Five Great Examples of Brands Supporting Pride
Pride Month is a time for businesses around the world to voice their support for the LGBTQ+ community. And businesses are increasingly doing so in creative and compelling ways, including selling Pride-theme merchandise or donating millions of dollars to LGBTQ+ causes. For all brands, the stakes have been raised: meaningful words and Rainbow-themed social media posts are not enough. Brands need to show how they are making the world better. As Collin Cornwell, IDX Executive Vice President, ConnectedContent, said recently in How to Build a Trusted Brand with the 4Rs, “People want to hear what brands are actually doing to solve problems.” In that spirit, we’ve highlighted below five examples of brands that are showing how they are making the world better through their Pride Month actions and words:
On June 2, Google published on its blog a powerful post from Juan Rajlin,
treasurer and co-global executive sponsor of PRIDE at Google. Rajlin discussed his experiences growing up gay in Argentina and his excitement at attending his first PRIDE parade in 1994. His testimony alone makes Google stand out for discussing its celebration of Pride through the lens of an LGBTQ+ employee. In the post, Rajlin also discusses some ways Google is supporting PRIDE, including providing $4 million to support LGBTQ+ communities around the world, celebrating LGBTQ+ creators, and making Google tools such as Google My Business listings more inclusive. By combining powerful words with meaningful actions, Google sets the gold standard for supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Of course, being a huge brand also opens up a business for criticism, and Google has weathered its share of controversy over the years, such as when its YouTube brand was accused of reportedly demonetizing and restricting video content from transgender people. (YouTube denied it was knowingly doing so). Google is one of the top LGBTQ+-friendly places to work according to Monster.com and is one of the U.S. Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality.
Disney
Disney has a reputation of being a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, an example being the hosting of Gay Days at Walt Disney World. Disney also sells Pride-themed merchandise as part of its Rainbow Collection, and 2021 is no different. In addition, Disney has announced it is donating to several LGBTQ+ causes, and the list is impressive due to its global nature, such as ARELAS, is a Spanish association that provides support for trans children and their families, and diversity München e.V., an LGBTQ+ youth organization with a youth center based in Munich, Germany. (Unlike Google, though, Disney does not say how much it is donating.) Disney deserves props for incorporating Pride into its most precious assets, whether re-imagining Darth Vader with Rainbow colors or adding the Rainbow flag to Mickey Mouse ears. In addition, the Disney+ streaming service is celebrating Pride Month with a prominently positioned carousel of LGBTQ+ titles on its homepage. But no brand is perfect, and neither is Disney. On Day One of Pride Month, Disney was hit with a sexual discrimination lawsuit, and the company has faced criticism for under-representing the LGBTQ+ community in its entertainment content. Disney remains one of the top LGBTQ+-friendly places to work according to Monster.com and is one of the U.S. Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality.
Reebok
Like Disney, Reebok integrates LGBTQ+ support into its product through its Pride Collection. Reebok is also donating $75,000 to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, which has a mission to guarantee gender identity rights to everyone, regardless of race or income. Rebook’s efforts are noteworthy for being educational. The company has launched a campaign that celebrates ballroom culture -- a subculture that acted as a safe haven community for Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ youth when it started in 1980s New York City. For example, Reebok has produced a new digital film (created through Hype Empire), which features the ballroom and voguing house Iconic House of Ninja (created in 1982 by Wili Ninja, known as the “Godfather of Vogue”). What an inspiring way to bring awareness to LGBTQ+ history! Reebok’s parent, adidas, is one of the top LGBTQ+-friendly places to work according to Monster.com and is one of the U.S. Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality.
LEGO
Everything is awesome at LEGO. And so is everyone. Its “Everyone Is Awesome” LEGO set celebrates diversity and features 11 mini-figures. The model was inspired by the classic rainbow flag, an enduring symbol of solidarity for the LGBTQ community. This 346-piece model is available online and in stores and is available to all. Everyone Is Awesome is LEGO’s first LGBTQ+- set in the company’s history. Like Google, LEGO incorporates personal storytelling. Matthew Ashton, responsible for the product’s design, shares on LEGO’s YouTube channel his personal story of being bullied as an LGBTQ+ youth and how his experiences inspired the design. LEGO supports the LGBTQ+ community in many other ways. For example, LEGO has partnerships with Workplace Pride and Open for Business (which strive toward LGBTQ inclusivity in the workplace and in society).
Unilever
Can a global corporation change five communities at the grassroots level? Unilever seeks to find out. The company is launching an effort to change five small cities rated among the worst in the United States in terms of conditions for LGBTQ+ people based on data reported by the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index. Unilever is partnering with LGBTQ+ organizations in the five cities to address problems that the Equality Index flagged (ranging from bullying to discriminatory laws). Unilever’s goal is to improve the scores for those five cities the next time the Human Rights Campaign calculates its Municipal Quality Index. Black female transgender filmmaker Tourmaline will create films to be released in June that will bring stories of the five communities to life. Unilever has also vowed to lobby against state anti-transgender legislation. Unilever is one of the top LGBTQ+-friendly places to work according to Monster.com and is one of the U.S. Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality.
Lessons Learned
Other brands can learn a lot about embracing corporate responsibility by following the examples set by these brands. Lessons learned include:
- Humanize your brand with compelling stories from real people.
- Don’t hold back discussing the tangible evidence of your actions, including dollars raised or donated. Doing so sets a performance standard for other businesses to reach or exceed.
- Amplify your story everywhere – on your website, your socials, and through effective PR and influencer outreach.
- Nobody’s perfect. Big brands especially are easy target for critics looking to take shots at their reputations. But don’t let that stop you from doing good.
In our recently published report, How to Build a Trusted Brand with the 4Rs: Responsibility, Reputation, Recruitment, and Reach, we discuss the new rules for building trust with customers in a world where people demand that businesses act to make society better. We invite you to read our report and share your own story.