June 1 marks the start of Pride Month, which celebrates and highlights the experiences and struggles of LGBTQI+ people. It is also a marketing trap that many brands are engulfed in, who wave the rainbow flag every year around this time to boost their sales. Sometimes we talk about ” pinkwashing “. But what exactly is it? Illumination.
What is Pinkwashing?
Like greenwashing, pinkwashing responds to a mercantile logic. We talk about pinkwashing when a company brandishes LGBT+ values to give itself a falsely progressive, equal, open and tolerant image, without concrete actions following this. This mechanism is also found in politics, when parties or personalities dress up in an LGBT-friendly image to appeal to voters who are sensitive to these issues.
This term takes on a negative dimension, because there is the idea of the hypocrisy of brands, which communicate on a topic for purely commercial reasons. At the time, as the LGBTQIA+ community welcomed increased representation, the question quickly arose as to what these brands were actually doing. Are LGBTQIA+ employees treated fairly? Is there a company policy against discrimination? Are the products made in countries that violate gay rights?
Flora Bolter, co-director of the Jean Jaurès Foundation’s LGBT+ observatory, interviewed in Le Monde. June 26, 2023.
Where does this term come from and when did the first pinkwashing operations date back?
The term was coined in 2002 by the American association Breast Cancer Action to denounce advertising campaigns that use breast cancer as a marketing lever.
This mechanism was also used in the 2000s by brands that tried to seduce the gay community, then perceived as a very profitable market, as it was made up of two-income families without children (in marketing jargon they are called DINK: double income without children), and therefore with high purchasing power.
How to detect a pinkwashing operation?
As Flora Bolter, co-director of the Jean Jaurès Foundation’s LGBT+ observatory, explains to our colleagues at World, THE pinkwashing involves an incompatibility between ” the message that is given externally and the internal policy of the company ». An operation of pinkwashing is punctual, and is not part of a substantive discourse: ” We also need to take this message long-term, rather than launching a campaign right at the time of the Pride March, or setting up reactionary advertising a few months later. », says the expert.
Advertisements that fall under the pinkwashing they also tend to broadcast clichéd and stigmatizing representations “. To avoid this, Flora Bolter reminds us that there is a simple solution: ” solicit and integrate LGBTQIA+ people into marketing teams who plan these campaigns. This also allows to show a plurality of experiences and representations.
Doesn’t pinkwashing make LGBTQI+ people even more visible?
Flora Bolter sums up very well the limits of this recovery process, which it certainly allowed” a representation of gay people that didn’t exist before », but at the cost of often distorted images:
Advertisement design has rarely been good for the people involved. They have passed on and shaped many stereotypes. LGBTQIA+ people were often depicted in advertisements selling alcohol, conveying the idea that gays were all wild party animals.
“The term pinkwashing takes on a negative dimension, with the idea of brand hypocrisy”. The world. June 26, 2023.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
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