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Does this make anyone else kind of uncomfortable?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Destin, Jun 4, 2019.

  1. Destin

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    The whole pride month thing leaves me with conflicting feelings. On one hand it's nice that so many companies are participating in stuff like this...but on the other hand it feels extremely fake and exploiting. Like...a week ago most of these companies didn't even remotely care at all about LGBT stuff, but now suddenly because it's June they start spewing rainbows everywhere to make money from LGBT people and act like they care. I don't mind at all if it's legitimate support from a place with a history of support, but when all of a sudden literally every company in the country is doing it (including Chik-Fil-A ironically, despite their homophobic CEO) it just kind of feels like the message becomes a meaningless cash grab.

    The one in the bottom-middle is from the white house. That one might be the worst...the Vice President openly hates everything even slightly gay but now suddenly we're just supposed to not remember that for a month because someone painted a rainbow.
     
    #1 Destin, Jun 4, 2019
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2019
  2. Shorthaul

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    I don't usually pay attention to most of the things big companies do any more.
     
  3. GayTurtle

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    @Destin I definitely see your point. It's pretty clearly meaningless and fake corporate posturing. But there's an upside - IMO regardless of how serious the companies are about these things, just having the effective LGBT advertising raises awareness and normalizes it. A lot of people won't interact with anything LGBT at all throughout their daily lives, and so it's nice to remind them that we exist. Makes the LGBT stuff less of an aberration or them.
     
  4. Canterpiece

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    I saw a meme not too long ago on this subject... :laughing:


    [​IMG]
     
  5. SemiCharmedLife

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    I'd like to see more effort made to support inclusion the rest of the year from big companies but here's my unpopular opinion: we are visible and accepted enough that companies would rather go after our dollars and risk losing the money of bigots who would boycott. I like it when companies do the math and come to that conclusion. I especially like it when some troll bigot goes after the brand on social media and the brand pushes back.

    Pride may have gotten more corporate than it was 20 years ago but I would so much rather live in a world where our spending power and visibility are valued rather than us being seen as too insignificant or downright toxic for advertisers to acknowledge.
     
  6. BlueMonday

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    Of course it's all a charade.
     
  7. OGS

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    I think it's really easy (and fashionable) to be cynical and I'll admit the White House one bothers me a bit. But the fact of the matter is that many, I would venture to say most, very large corporations in the U.S. really are very supportive of the LGBT community and willing to put their money where their mouth is.

    I work for one of the largest brokerage/banking firms in the U.S. They're reputation is extremely conservative. For the eleven years I've been there they have insured my husband (then partner). There's a weird little bug of the U.S. tax code that providing insurance to an employee for someone they are not related to is a taxable fringe benefit. Now of coarse pretty much the only time a company does that is when they're insuring a domestic partner, but that's how the code reads. So I had to pay tax on the value of my partner's insurance, while my straight coworkers did not have to pay tax on the value of their spouse's insurance. My firm saw this as unfair. Effectively their gay employees who availed themselves of the benefit of insuring a partner brought home less money after tax than did the straight employees using the same benefit. Mind you, it's not because of a firm policy, it's because of the law. This is a situation where a company could so easily tell employees to write their congressman. Instead, they ponied up the money. Until I got married the firm paid me extra every pay period to cover the extra tax burden--in effect they paid the gay tax for me. I think that's remarkable.

    I think if you really look into the policies that major corporations in the U.S. have enacted over the past ten to twenty years (HRC's Corporate Equality Index would be a good place to start), you'd be surprised how much very real day in day out support they provide for the community and their clients and employees from that community.

    Happy Pride!
     
  8. Reviskova

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    I agree with a lot of things said in this thread. if it is a company who has *done something* to support the community, i can understand. but when its a cash grab its PAINFULLY obvious. on one hand the ""support"" and awareness is nice, but even as a LGBT person myself... i think its too much. or rather, too many companies exploiting people for their own benefit, for close to no other reason but greediness. i think its really forced from a lot of companies, and i find it very frustrating that a company has the audacity to do this when they (or someone higher up in the company, wow im saying company a lot) has shared distaste/hatred for the community. seeing the white house and chick-fil-a do this is laughable, and honestly kind of pathetic. do people think we all just forget what they have said or done? its also kind of annoying having it totally shoved absolutely everywhere, thats just my opinion though.
     
  9. atomidog

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    I get your point, and I certainly do not blame you for having it. I feel like more times than not, LGBTQ lives are singled down to a opportunity to gain clout and chi-ching.

    However, all I guess I can say is ‘it be capitalism, bro’.
     
  10. Mirko

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    To be honest, I have stopped paying attention to it. I have my moments where I feel it is actually a little overdone - if that's the right word to use here. It is good to see that companies and/or organisations are supportive, and certainly quite a few are, but the issue I am having is that the support is not always that visible or there to begin with. Some companies/organisations do a good, even a great, job in hiring LGBTQ+ persons and provide diversity training (or try to address diversity issues within their respective workplaces), making an effort to include the LGBTQ+ community, but others seem to be remembering this part of the population only once a year. It would be nice to see them companies/organisations doing things year round, or being more engaged with the LGBTQ community so to promote (real) diversity and understanding in the larger community.
     
  11. Devil Dave

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    Well it is one way of exposing the homophobes who are still out there. I see ads popping up on my spocial media where a company is posting a rainbow and saying "happy pride to all our customers" and then I see people reacting with the angry emoji and commenting at the company to stop being political and threatening to unfollow. It may not be the companies' intention to provoke homophobic reactions, but it is a reminder of what pride is standing against and that there is still a lot of work to be done.
     
  12. GayTurtle

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  13. Shallow waters

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  14. Poofter

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    Their ad execs say if you want to bring the LGBT+ dollars in you have to do something for pride. And you get these logos.

    I saw a story the other day about people boycotting XBOX because they made a rainbow controller for pride month. Like seriously if people want to go out of their way to boycott every company that did this they would have to go off grid, live off the land, and never purchase anything from any store.

    On the Chick-Fil-A note. The owner died a few years back that had made all those press statements. Maybe the new board isn’t so homophobic. Either way it’s all a marketing gimmick meant to get our dollars into their stores.
     
  15. canadawet

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    There is something to be said about the monetization of pride, especially when it comes to the fact that the actual celebration seems to be turning into a party for straight people, but I prefer to look on the bright side when it comes to this. Stuff like this is a sign to me that LGBT is losing its deviant, sexual, non-family-friendly connotation and becoming normalized. It's not like there are that many people being fooled by all the corporate charades anymore anyway, so might as well make the best of it, buy a rainbow t-shirt if you want, and quit it with the cynicism.
     
  16. Lalayajen

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    We all know they are doing it for the cash but.. let me tell you a lil' something...
    I live in a very homophobic country and most people have never even heard of LGBT rights. So I actually have saw people who saw these logos and had to look up and become informed about LGBT, although they all are still homophobic but it was a positive step.
     
  17. LaurenSkye

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    I think it varies from company to company. Look at the big-time sponsors of Pride festivals and parades. I believe those companies to be genuine and not JUST out for money.
     
  18. Loves books

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    It’s just business I don’t use anything less or more if they have rainbows or not. However even though I’m not American the White House one annoys me. I enjoyed watching my country protest Donald Trump visiting, yet when Obama came we were scrambling to find an Irish connection and naming things after him.
     
  19. smee

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    I live in almost the center of Texas. Things would be markedly different if I lived in a major city or if I spent more time around the local university but hey, I live in the center of Texas. People are supportive, bigoted and apathetic, much like people everywhere, but there tends not to be that much vocal support or much interest in understanding one another.

    Until I start seeing pride flags on the businesses around the courthouse square (or until the governor walks back the "Save Chik-Fil-A" and "Religious Liberty" bills that he just signed), I'll be more than happy to see corporations put a rainbow background on their logos for a month. It provides visibility, and I think that it makes a difference.
     
  20. CarolD

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    It can be very hypocritical when brands suddenly dress up in rainbow during pride month.
    But also it's good to keep tabs on which companies actually do donate, invest or otherwise help LGBT causes all year round.
    Some companies actually do some decent work in that front.