Since pride month is literally right around the corner, DO NOT be fooled by companies that change their logos to rainbow when their money speaks for themselves. Image ID below “keep reading” line. Source of said financial information is “florida campaign finance”
Disney+ has a “pride” collection and it’s so abysmal it’s almost funny. They don’t even have enough movies to fill a full category so they lump them in with short films. There are still only eight pieces of media in the category.
The other two categories are series (which I’ll get back to later cause boy do I have things to say) and episodes. Episodes is a really shitty category. It’s literally just episodes from random shows that have queer plot lines or characters in that one single episode. Half of them are from shows mentioned in series. I’m convinced they only added this one so the page would feel less barren, but it’s a very poor attempt.
Which brings me back to series. It’s here that it goes from funny to infuriating. There are shows on there like glee and the high school musical series which I haven’t seen and can’t really speak on, but what really caught my interest was their inclusion of gravity falls and the owl house.
Gravity falls has two characters that are revealed to be gay in the finale and I think that’s about it as far as any queer rep goes so it feels cheap to put it in a pride collection. Gravity falls is only tangentially queer, and that’s thanks to disney. Gravity falls had to fight just so that two men could say they loved each other, and they could only do it in the last episode.
But the owl house. The owl house. This is a show that disney is cancelling for “not fitting the brand,” a show the creators have had to fight just to get it as far as it has already come, and disney has the audacity to tout it in a pride collection.
Disney works against queer characters and storylines in media, yet still shows them off when it’s time for rainbow capitalism. They’re trying to pander to the queer community while also pleasing homophobes. They’re pretending they care about queer people while also silencing them.
Image description Tweet from @GroovyTasia “ I know I roll my eyes at a lot of companies capitalizing on Pride but can we agree having a "are you a top or a bottom” burger is peak performance? The only way they can beat this is coming out with a bisexual burger"
Attached image is a screenshot from the burgerkingaustria instagram showing two burgers, one with two top bums, one with two bottom buns with text “Time to be proud.” on a rainbow background
i’d rather have rainbow capitalism then living in constant fear of discovery. the woman in the pride flag disney t-shirt might be missing the nuance, but at least i know i can be myself. a street full of rainbow flags makes me more comfortable holding a mans hand. look. corporations aren’t your friend. they will sell to whoever will buy. but kids seeing gay everything every year is only ever a good thing, and a massive improvement in history
THIS THIS THIS
“Nyeh they don’t actually care about you!!!” YEAH I KNOW. BUT FUCK IF IM NOT GONNA TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT AND FEEL SAFER. Seeing rainbows everywhere is better than not knowing where I am and am not accepted. Even if corporations are lying and don’t really support queer people, L to them because they’re enabling the further normalization of our existence. They played themselves.
Some of us remember the world before corporate pride when it was just having no visibility at all in your corner
Performance activism still achieves a level of activism, regardless of intent.
the kids i’ve met, the kids i’ve worked with - and i’m talking 18 and under right now today - who are out at school, out to their parents, out to *themselves* because what those of us who are terminally online rail against as shitty rainbow capitalism? is enormous.
l have an entire theraputic client base that are just queer teenagers who come to me for therapy because i’m queer and they’re queer. and THEIR PARENTS SUPPORT THAT. their are other clinicians like me all over the western world and if you dont think that the reason that exists AT ALL is not contributed to in part because of this visibility - the shitty rainbow capitalism level visibility? then you need to get off the internet for a minute. because it is not perfect at all and it is absolutely abusive but it also tells my clients and their parents that it’s normal so that they feel safe enough to then call me or a clinician like me when their gay or trans or questioning kid needs therapy and going “maybe i should get a queer clinician instead of…some random clinician so that they can feel seen because that’s a thing right?” because we’re allowed to be open now, it’s safe enough that we’re a marketshare and not literally driven out of our professions for existing.
this matters yall. i’m sorry but it does.
All of this!
I don’t think that we should hand over our Pride parades to corporations, nor “sanitize” them to court some sponsors, but that is a different discussion than the above.
Walking into TARGET and seeing not only rainbow colored socks & flags, but also socks & flags in ace, bu, pan, etc colors is amazing to my 60+ year old self. It’s such a difference!
Also in a year where the Republican Party is having fun going after companies and organizations that disagree with them politically, it does feel a little less empty than usual: if nothing else, they wouldn’t do it if they didn’t think it would make them look good, and it’s a reminder that public sentiment at large isn’t as it looks in the news.
Disney+ has a “pride” collection and it’s so abysmal it’s almost funny. They don’t even have enough movies to fill a full category so they lump them in with short films. There are still only eight pieces of media in the category.
The other two categories are series (which I’ll get back to later cause boy do I have things to say) and episodes. Episodes is a really shitty category. It’s literally just episodes from random shows that have queer plot lines or characters in that one single episode. Half of them are from shows mentioned in series. I’m convinced they only added this one so the page would feel less barren, but it’s a very poor attempt.
Which brings me back to series. It’s here that it goes from funny to infuriating. There are shows on there like glee and the high school musical series which I haven’t seen and can’t really speak on, but what really caught my interest was their inclusion of gravity falls and the owl house.
Gravity falls has two characters that are revealed to be gay in the finale and I think that’s about it as far as any queer rep goes so it feels cheap to put it in a pride collection. Gravity falls is only tangentially queer, and that’s thanks to disney. Gravity falls had to fight just so that two men could say they loved each other, and they could only do it in the last episode.
But the owl house. The owl house. This is a show that disney is cancelling for “not fitting the brand,” a show the creators have had to fight just to get it as far as it has already come, and disney has the audacity to tout it in a pride collection.
Disney works against queer characters and storylines in media, yet still shows them off when it’s time for rainbow capitalism. They’re trying to pander to the queer community while also pleasing homophobes. They’re pretending they care about queer people while also silencing them.
“China produces more rainbow flags than anyone. My nightmare is there is a factory with nearly slave labor, forced to live within the factory complex and get up every morning and have to churn out more and more rainbow tchotchkes.” He says he didn’t create the rainbow flag in order for others to profit off of “rainbow junk”.
He is horrified by some of the things he has seen. He says, “Walking down Castro Street, I can’t pay my rent, but I see rainbow dildos in the shop windows and rainbow keychains, rainbow rings, rainbow candles and so on.” He said it is similar to when the best music ends up as elevator music. He is gratified that the power of the rainbow caught on as rings, but that power can be diluted by over-commercialization.”
i’d rather have rainbow capitalism then living in constant fear of discovery. the woman in the pride flag disney t-shirt might be missing the nuance, but at least i know i can be myself. a street full of rainbow flags makes me more comfortable holding a mans hand. look. corporations aren’t your friend. they will sell to whoever will buy. but kids seeing gay everything every year is only ever a good thing, and a massive improvement in history
The company I used to work for sponsored the local Pride parade, and while I have no doubt they did it for PR reasons rather than the goodness of their heart, it was really comforting to me as an employee because it made me feel comfortable being out at work and gave me some assurance that the company wouldn’t fire me for being queer.
Rainbow capitalism has its issues, but I’d much rather live in a world where companies think Pride merch will make them look good than the alternative.
i’d rather have rainbow capitalism then living in constant fear of discovery. the woman in the pride flag disney t-shirt might be missing the nuance, but at least i know i can be myself. a street full of rainbow flags makes me more comfortable holding a mans hand. look. corporations aren’t your friend. they will sell to whoever will buy. but kids seeing gay everything every year is only ever a good thing, and a massive improvement in history
corporations trying to profit off of queer people by showing their support for only one month of the year is bad
and
it’s fun to watch conservatives get pissed that they can’t shop at target anymore because the big bad rainbows will corrupt their children :(
and
the existence of rainbow capitalism in the first place proves that society is now in a place where supporting queer people is the more profitable and thus more popular opinion and that means something
corporations trying to profit off of queer people by showing their support for only one month of the year is bad
and
it’s fun to watch conservatives get pissed that they can’t shop at target anymore because the big bad rainbows will corrupt their children :(
and
the existence of rainbow capitalism in the first place proves that society is now in a place where supporting queer people is the more profitable and thus more popular opinion and that means something
The only thing worse than rainbow capitalism? Queerbait rainbow capitalism.
OK, so this definitely borders on making fun of The Satanic Temple just to make fun of The Satanic Temple, but somehow they managed to take rainbow capitalism and make it even worse last year.
Hail Pride ️ Pride Month is just around the corner and we want to take a moment to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community! In that spirit, we’re excited to announce that our new pride merch is available in the TST Shop at
OK! A buncha Satanists are queer people, esp. TST members. Let’s see what they had?
Sure. Yeah. Not everything needs to be “rainbowy” or in pride colors to represent queer pride, right? Of course not. Satanists tend to dress in black a lot. Fine.
But what about the buttons! The preview image made them look colorful!
ALT
Uh… that just looks like a random collection of “The Satanic Temple” pin-on buttons with the logo in various colors, including a few “The Satanic Temple - Salem”, which is the same location as the “Salem Art Gallery”, the physical headquarters of The Satanic Temple and where they sell a bunch of in-person merchandise.
Did- did they just throw together a bunch of buttons they already had on hand and then call them “Pride buttons”?
That does certainly seem the case, yes.
“Wait a second, @QueerSatanic,” we can already hear someone saying. “The Satanic Temple does great gay pride content year-round. So what if their Pride month collection was last minute. TST probably didn’t even think about needing it because they’re so oriented toward queer issues all the time.”
That is an absolutely great point to make, thank you so much not letting us go astray.
Indeed, TST logo patches doseem to include a TST logo with rainbow colors.
Anyway, look, The Satanic Temple would not be any betterif they were selling more rainbow stuff for Pride Month. Certainly, they’ve sold rainbow stuff in the past. It’s just funny that they didn’t bother to do anything for 2021 until the very last minute, and did the ol’ bait-and-switch with their marketing, disappointing a lot of people.
ALTALT
It really is a nice touch that rainbows are everywhere except the actual products they offered, right?
Speaking of Pride Month and The Satanic Temple’s interests there, let’s check in on New Jersey and how one trans member there is feeling about a local would-be chapter.
To be fair, “We will use your face to promote us, but we don’t want you involved in leadership, and we just want to make money off of Pride celebrations” is very on-brand for The Satanic Temple. As are the TSTer comments reacting to criticism as healthily as we’ve come to expect
The only thing worse than rainbow capitalism? Queerbait rainbow capitalism.
OK, so this definitely borders on making fun of The Satanic Temple just to make fun of The Satanic Temple, but somehow they managed to take rainbow capitalism and make it even worse last year.
Hail Pride ️ Pride Month is just around the corner and we want to take a moment to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community! In that spirit, we’re excited to announce that our new pride merch is available in the TST Shop at
OK! A buncha Satanists are queer people, esp. TST members. Let’s see what they had?
Sure. Yeah. Not everything needs to be “rainbowy” or in pride colors to represent queer pride, right? Of course not. Satanists tend to dress in black a lot. Fine.
But what about the buttons! The preview image made them look colorful!
ALT
Uh… that just looks like a random collection of “The Satanic Temple” pin-on buttons with the logo in various colors, including a few “The Satanic Temple - Salem”, which is the same location as the “Salem Art Gallery”, the physical headquarters of The Satanic Temple and where they sell a bunch of in-person merchandise.
Did- did they just throw together a bunch of buttons they already had on hand and then call them “Pride buttons”?
That does certainly seem the case, yes.
“Wait a second, @QueerSatanic,” we can already hear someone saying. “The Satanic Temple does great gay pride content year-round. So what if their Pride month collection was last minute. TST probably didn’t even think about needing it because they’re so oriented toward queer issues all the time.”
That is an absolutely great point to make, thank you so much not letting us go astray.
Indeed, TST logo patches doseem to include a TST logo with rainbow colors.
Anyway, look, The Satanic Temple would not be any betterif they were selling more rainbow stuff for Pride Month. Certainly, they’ve sold rainbow stuff in the past. It’s just funny that they didn’t bother to do anything for 2021 until the very last minute, and did the ol’ bait-and-switch with their marketing, disappointing a lot of people.
ALTALT
It really is a nice touch that rainbows are everywhere except the actual products they offered, right?
i’d rather have rainbow capitalism then living in constant fear of discovery. the woman in the pride flag disney t-shirt might be missing the nuance, but at least i know i can be myself. a street full of rainbow flags makes me more comfortable holding a mans hand. look. corporations aren’t your friend. they will sell to whoever will buy. but kids seeing gay everything every year is only ever a good thing, and a massive improvement in history
So while most rainbow capitalism is sticking rainbows on things and pretending to be an ally, Budweiser’s UK branch is giving credit to trans activists, and explaining pride flag colors.
Budweiser is an inclusionist
What a weird and true thing to say! And I almost sounds like a joke but honestly I feel this tweet captures 90% of my feelings
And to actually credit Monica Helms and get the white stripe right? Like, if we are going to have companies at pride this is what I’d like to see. Professional looking marketing, credit to activists, research about the groups its marketing, and spreading further awareness.
So while it’s understandable that people are excited to see mainstream recognition, I think it’s important to also know that there is a reason that alcohol companies in particular tend to be “better” about learning about and reaching out to stigmatized or disadvantaged communities that other companies avoid or ignore:
It’s because industries like alcohol and tobacco know that marginalized communities that are subject to minority stress are much more likely to suffer from things like substance abuse and binge drinking - making them prime targets for companies whose #1 goal is selling more alcohol and making more money.
As@godlessacepointed out, advertising by alcohol companies isn’t directly comparable to other types of rainbow capitalism / queerwashed commercialism, because the products they are promoting are directly, actively harmful to the communities they are targeting.
When it comes to things like ace flags at Target, or Subaru advertising cars to lesbians, there is rarely any direct harm to the targeted consumer (other than whatever harms capitalism and commercialism as a whole may have on society). If I buy a Subaru or a polyester flag, I’m not immediately putting my health at risk.
But when it comes to companies advertising things like alcohol and tobacco (and later, vape products) to lesbians and gays - and later to groups like trans people and ace people - the products they want you to adopt are ones that can also be directly harmful to your health.
For those not as familiar with the relationship between alcohol/tobacco, advertising, and LGBTQ Communities, here’s some initial recommended reading that I was gathering for another post:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/business/media/absolut-heralds-its-marketing-to-gay-consumers.html more on the history of how Absolut vodka marketed to LGBT communities - it’s a little pandering to Absolut but I think it still demonstrates how reaching out to LGBT (and ace) communities - and even hosting community events and fundraisers - is all about a clever brand strategy, not out of the goodness of their hearts.
https://www.autostraddle.com/sober-in-the-city-surviving-pride-without-liquor-236902/ - notes on how the entanglement of alcohol and Pride can be triggering and risky for alcoholics trying to stay sober. While not mentioned in this article, I think it’s worth mentioning that alcohol companies are often major sponsors at Pride (in order to profit, of course) with such an extensive presence that it’s often easier and sometimes cheaper to find booths selling alcohol that it is to find water.
Alcohol companies (along with over “vice industries” like tobacco companies) have a history of being the first to really enthusiastically include/exploit LGBTQ+ populations in their marketing campaigns, so I guess it doesn’t come as a surprise, but I definitely have mixed feelings about it and it’s definitely something that should be looked at critically.
Target is also selling ace flags in most of their larger locations (haven’t seen them in the smaller city target lines that don’t have the Bullseye’s playground section), so I guess that for better or for worse 2019 is officially the year that Asexuality really joined the capitalist-exploitation-at-pride party?
“Budweiser is also hosting several Pride events, including a three-day asexual event. The brand is partnering with asexual activist and model Yasmin Benoit to bring visibility to this part of the community.”
What the…? Is <a href=“https://tmblr.co/mZhD2ndLSdvHsoEN81fGvsw”>@yasminbenoit</a> aware of the concerns that some people might have about this?
I don’t really mind corporate sponsorship in general, but corporate sponsorship from alcohol companies scares me. That’s a public health problem. I’m a craft beer person myself and I know not to impugn people’s individual choices with respect to alcohol. But when you’re getting targeted advertising, statistically that’s going to cause problems for a lot of people.
Hard liquor companies have been advertising to LGBT people for a long time, and it certainly impacted the queer student group that I participated back in college. There was an awful lot of binge drinking, and for many it was a way of dealing with personal despair. It was for me too.
Studies show asexuals have a really high rate of teetotaling, and maybe that means we’ll be resilient to targeted alcohol advertising. But it also might mean that there’s that much more room for things to get worse.
“China produces more rainbow flags than anyone. My nightmare is there is a factory with nearly slave labor, forced to live within the factory complex and get up every morning and have to churn out more and more rainbow tchotchkes.” He says he didn’t create the rainbow flag in order for others to profit off of “rainbow junk”.
He is horrified by some of the things he has seen. He says, “Walking down Castro Street, I can’t pay my rent, but I see rainbow dildos in the shop windows and rainbow keychains, rainbow rings, rainbow candles and so on.” He said it is similar to when the best music ends up as elevator music. He is gratified that the power of the rainbow caught on as rings, but that power can be diluted by over-commercialization.”
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