Rein in rainbow capitalism

Are queer narratives commercialised during Pride Month? Isiri Rao writes about what it entails for brands to adopt genuine inclusivity instead of just resorting to retailing rainbow logos and merchandise

AlexMathew

Srishti Balakrishna

The rainbow-coloured icon popped up on my laptop screen as I waited for my browser to load. It was the first week of June, which is marked as Pride Month. During this time, LGBTQ+ individuals are honoured and Pride advertisements appear to permeate every company’s marketing messages. The items with ‘love is love’ slogans, rainbow-dipped logos, and tweets praising brands’ allyship towards the LGBTQ+ community all seem like promising efforts. However, this is when things go south.

“I’m glad that there are companies that are totally our allies, who are ready to support us throughout the year. Then again, there are companies that only communicate with us during Pride Month. They only think about performing a barter, an interview, or getting their goods posted on our social media,” said Alex Mathew, a.k.a. Maya the Drag Queen, whose incredible story has been acknowledged across the country.

Mere tokenism?

The Pride aesthetic has been used by several business brands in their June calendar. Uber cars flashed rainbow hues (on the app, of course), Starbucks created a thought-provoking campaign, Instagram ads lined up in rainbow colours, shopping centres were redecorated, and e-commerce sites had special Pride Day bargains throughout the internet. But the genuine spirit of Pride got lost in the midst of this vibrant mayhem. Pride Month is a celebration of those who identify as queer and aims to raise awareness of the problems faced by the community. Pride Month transcends advertising. In addition, several major corporations have come under fire for taking advantage of the queer community while funding anti-LGBTQ organisations.

Randhir Singh, the founder and creative director of Subculture, a homegrown leather fetish fashion and lifestyle brand says, “In our recent Pride campaign, we have had trans people, gay people, lesbians, and heterosexuals as the idea is to raise awareness and visibility.”

Another popular brand that showcases inclusivity with its sustainable gender-fluid
clothing is Roch Studio. Ronak Choudhary, the founder and creative director of the company, is a firm believer in having a consistent customer base and participating in Pride activities all year long to demonstrate the company’s allyship. “A lot of queer people reach out to us. They do want to celebrate and have those colourful campy clothes on them because if you’ve gone through our page, a lot of our clothes are very campy. And what would be more queer than the idea of camp?” he said.

Talking about small brands making a big difference, the Lil Cloud Shop is another example. “I think for some brands, Pride Month just means taking out their rainbow merchandise. That’s really not it. Brands need to try to include queer people everywhere. You just have to make them feel comfortable,” elaborates Akash Parmar, a stylist and owner of the brand Lil Cloud Shop. For the past three years, the LGBTQ+ community has voiced concerns about rainbow capitalism, but few firms have truly listened. “I notice a lot of individuals selling and buying rainbow phone cases and referring to themselves as allies,” says freelancer and proud member of the queer community Srishti Balakrishna. “Sorry, but no one is buying that. It makes a lot more sense for them to learn to be more respectful rather than purchase this merchandise given that many of us work for corporations,” she adds. Misled philosophies behind allyship have confused allies on how to contribute to the community without getting beguiled. The fact that queer people strongly believe that capitalising on Pride is unacceptable and that brands should instead concentrate on educating their employees about the LGBTQ+ community was furthered by other queer influencers like Randhir Singh. Some values that need to be taught in corporations include using pronouns when addressing members, respecting a queer person’s personal space, and avoiding presuming genders and sexual orientations.

Change begins here

We have all been engaged in a generation-long battle for pay parity. Along with a number of other problems, such as a lack of representation and a lack of understanding of pronouns, the gay community also struggles with this one. Equal pay does not include inviting gay people onto platforms and paying them through “exposure and representation.” Inclusion is a key game changer for a group that is frequently labelled and persecuted as misfits. Large corporations have the capacity to transform society by accepting LGBTQ+ employees in their workplace environments. “All of these changes can be brought about by brands. Perhaps they can incorporate pride into it as an extension of their Corporate Social Responsibility," Srishti suggests.