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Events are often an excellent reason for a marketing campaign. But that is not always possible: the Olympic rings are sacred and F1 and UEFA do not allow their event to be used without significant compensation. However, there are also the themed periods and holidays. As a marketer you have to be careful here, because careless use can be seen as ‘taking advantage’ without the plan behind it being sincere. Think of pinkwashing: this is used both to casually participate in October Breast Cancer Awareness Month – without donating to the cause – and to use rainbows when something LGBT comes along. And that is regular.

Pride Month

It’s June again, which means Pride Month – and for the 25th time too. It is an American concept that has its origins in the Stonewall riots of 1969. The concept has increasingly gained global fame, partly because Google has shown a rainbow-colored icon in LGBT-related searches since 2012 during Pride month. During this month, numerous organizations, brands and companies pay attention to LGBT themes, including through publicity and marketing campaigns.

It has also reached Europe in recent years. We see this mainly because many international brands celebrate with Pride collections and products – and because social media and many web shops are borderless. Otherwise, not much attention is paid to this, because for instance in the Netherlands we also have about 10 local Pride events, Pink Saturday, LGBT History Month (February), Purple Friday (the second Friday of December), Transgender Visibility Day (March 31) and IDAHOBIT (May 17).

These are all marketing opportunities. If companies want to join in – even if only to show their diversity – these are great moments. Pride Month is an obvious choice, because a month is easier to set up for campaigns than a day.

Fashion

It is mainly the fashion brands that catch the eye: they release entire collections (“capsules”) with rainbows, LGBT symbols and often also celebrities from the world of sports, music, TV and activism. But ‘ordinary’ LGBT people are also given their say, and in recent years more and more trans people and non-binary people have been included.

Converse

This year we see Converse again with a capsule. They have been doing this since 2015*, but actually only during ‘the season’, so they could do better. They collaborated with Miley Cyrus, who designed her own collection.

A&F

Good old Abercrombie & Fitch is also participating again, more or less against their better judgement. The company has been around since 1892, but only became really popular when gays adopted it as their lifestyle brand in the late 1980s. That didn’t last very long: see The Rise and The Fall. Scandals in the context of #MeToo, body shaming, blackmail and misconduct of the CEO – Netflix had an interesting documentary about this: “White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch”. On top of that came the fact that the mainstream consumer had now found the brand. The gays turned their backs on A&F.

CK

Calvin Klein announced its 2024 ‘This Is Love‘ Pride campaign, starring Cara Delevingne and Jeremy Pope. The collection features rainbow-colored Calvin Klein logos on underwear and shirts, as well as two limited-edition shirts created in collaboration with Ilga World and Transgender Law Center.

The iconic Mark Wahlberg commercial from 1982, which was later copied by Nick Jonas and Dan Osbourne. And Carla Lavigne for this year’s campaign.

FMCG

But FMCG brands are also participating. Skittles, a candy from the Mars stables, which very appropriately has the slogan “taste the rainbow” has been running a promotions for a few years now, including the following saying: “During Pride there is only one rainbow that counts”. Both the packaging and the candies were made completely colorless for the occasion.

They have only had such campaigns since 2016, but they do work together with charity GLAAD, so that scores bonus points.

Ikea

Ikea has been doing it very original, relevant and fun for years. This year in the US and UK they launched a rainbow cake in their restaurants for 3.99 dollar/pound, with proceeds going to the charity True Colors United. Additionally, starting June 1, 100 percent of the retail price of the iconic Storstomma bag will be donated to Rainbow Railroad.

Their “Marketing the Rainbow” started in 1994 and has produced very special products, campaigns, images and video material over the years.

Starbucks

Finally, an honorable mention for Starbucks. They made headlines several times, including with their campaign “Every name’s a story” (2019), with which they won Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising.

Their CEO also made a statement at the AGM in 2013 when he skillfully silenced a homophobic protester. Diversity, even at the top.

Other brands

Reebok, Nike, Nivea, Levi’s, adidas (with Olympian Tom Daley and Brazilian drag superstar Pabllo Vittar, who also collaborates with Amstel), Paula Rosen jewelry, Apple – they’re all in on the action.

Even Ugg and Crocs were brightened up with the six colors, as were the not-so-aesthetic Teva and the fairly boring Dockers. Jean Paul Gaultier gave his iconic torso bottles a new look. Major department stores such as Macy’s and Saks Off 5th are happily participating.

Walmart took a step back after the uproar that arose last year from radically conservative quarters. While they do state “Not just a slogan. #PrideAlways is a reminder to lead with love,” they announced shortly before that the collection will only be available in ‘selected stores‘. They want to be friends with everyone.

Even Chinese online retailers Temu en Aliexpress now have loads of rainbow products on offer.

In the Netherlands there are a few small companies that are joining in, such as Monday Merch, Party Corner, Jack of Dice, JeEigenTaart.nl and the Amsterdam Cupcake Company.

Tompouce pastry

Hema, which has done very nice campaigns in the past, has Pride tompouces (their siganture pastry) in its range again this year. But the big boys are missing: Unilever has a solid rainbow reputation across all divisions, but this year it seems to be quiet. Heineken and Amstel respectively focus on at Queer & Pride Amsterdam, and South America. The Zuidas companies mainly have Pride parades in mind.

Conclusion

Brands in Europe do not make enough use of the opportunity to show their diversity during Pride Month. It is a stronger affair of a local Pride festival, gives more space for campaigns and is less likely to be seen as pinkwashing.

Alfred Verhoeven is a marketer and is in the final phase of his PhD research Marketing the Rainbow.
He previously wrote for ILOVEGAY about The Oldest Rainbows, Royal Dutch Shell part 1 and part 2, Marriott part 1 and part 2, Super Bowl Ads: What Would Jesus Do?, Zalando’s journey from activism to size-inclusive shoes, Zalando goes from controversies to hidden stories, Get woke, go broke, Spain has 6.8 billion reasons to love rainbow tourists, How Spain markets itself as rainbow destination, Everyone’s gay in Amsterdam, I Amsterdam, Gay Capital, The Ideal Traveler, Diversity & Language, Playing with Pronouns, Abercrombie & Fitch : The Rise & The Fall, Play the gayme: about SIMS and Candy Crush, Diversity in Toys, LEGO does the rainbow, Barbiemania, Bud Light and the 4 bln dollar woman, Dutch retailer HEMA loves everybody, Pronouns, About those rainbows, Alphabet soup, M&M’s and the lesbian invasion, Magnum and the lesbian wedding, Marketing the Rainbow: the process and all that came before it, Sport and (un)sportmanship,  Why you need a supplier diversity program, BeNeLux LGBTIQ+ Business Chamber (BGLBC), From B2C and B2B to B2G and G2G (oh, and G2C), The Men from Atlantis, The other kind of cruising, Booking.com, Home Deco, Haters and trolls: the ‘letter to the editor’ of the 21st century, 5 Bizarre LGBT Videos, TRANSparency, Transgender persons as a target group, Matchmaking, 5 videos that went viral, From Representation To Respect, Cultural sensitivities and social involvement in marketing, 4 reasons to practice diversity and The Rules of Market Segmentation.