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After backlash led Target and Anheuser-Busch to pull back on some of their Pride-related marketing and merchandise earlier this year, a chilling mood settled over the LGBTQ+ community’s annual celebrations.
At the same time, threats of violence from anti-LGBTQ+ groups, in addition to a longstanding skepticism from the queer community regarding the authenticity of corporate Pride initiatives, have prompted brand leaders to put some rainbow-colored marketing initiatives on ice.
As marketers look back on Pride 2023 and ahead to next year, it’s clear that the perceived benefits of rainbow-washing have eroded. In their stead is a new trend for brands unwilling to back up their Pride initiatives with real solidarity: rainbow-hushing.
“They’re either scared of backlash from a more vocal minority, or it could be that they don’t feel that they are doing enough,” Tamara Littleton, founder of social media agency The Social Element and crisis management consultancy Polpeo, told Adweek.
Given the tumultuous and divisive cultural moment, it’s understandable that some marketers have hit the brakes, she noted. “This year has been a bit of a scary year, but we’re really trying to help brands stick up for themselves with our support.”
The rise of rainbow-hushing
While rainbow-hushing describes brands’ retreat from visible support of the LGBTQ+ community, it has two sides.
On the one hand, the queer community has expressed increasing frustration over surface-level support from brands during Pride, often described as rainbow-washing. Pride participation or LGBTQ-targeted campaigns that aren’t backed up by a robust understanding of and support for the community fall flat—and the lack of that level of engagement is unlikely to be missed by those it’s targeting, experts told Adweek.
On the other hand, the political atmosphere has shifted in the last couple of years. As more anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is passed across the U.S. and anti-trans rhetoric continues to be published on (ad-funded) platforms, the legal and reputational risks become more complex.
[Regulation] is very much motivated by a very specific form of radical hatred of trans people.
TJ Billard, assistant professor, Northwestern University
