Parade participants march during the 2024 Kentucky Pride Parade on June 15, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Stephen J. Cohen | Getty Images
Pride Month is coming to an end—and this year, the corporate world is taking a more cautious approach.
June tends to bring a wave of rainbow-themed merchandise and certainly ads and social media posts from retailers and consumer brands, coinciding with parades and other events celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.
However, as the presidential election approaches, some companies are becoming more reticent about diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to avoid becoming embroiled in culture wars or facing blowback from conservative customers. Target Bud Light did this a year ago.
The most obvious example came late Thursday: tractor supply, A retailer that sells animal feed, cowboy boots and lawn supplies in rural parts of the country says it will stop all spending related to diversity and environmental causes. This includes no longer sponsoring Pride, the statement said.
The move, while unusual in scale, highlights that companies that have made inclusion commitments in recent years are proceeding with caution.
Compared to previous years, it’s difficult to track how many companies shared messages of support, donated to LGBTQ+ causes or sold rainbow-themed merchandise in June. As of June 21 this year, 45% of Fortune 100 companies had at least one social media post explicitly related to Pride on LinkedIn or In March this proportion was 51%.
Luke Hartig, president of Gravity Research, said the volatility of the presidential election and the willingness of both candidates to call out companies by name also make it less likely that companies will make their positions public.
“It’s kind of like, ‘Keep your head down as we go through this election,'” he said.
Tim Bennett is the co-founder of Tribury Productions, a marketing company specializing in LGBTQ+ Americans that works with Fortune 500 companies, including most recently Procter. He said more and more clients are taking a “wait and see” approach to marketing to LGBTQ+ consumers, or deciding to spread their efforts throughout the year rather than making a big splash in one month.
“This June will be different than the last five or six years,” Bennett said.
For LGBTQ+ initiatives and charities, this might not be a bad thing. Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of the nonprofit GLAAD, said she sees more companies engaging in year-round philanthropy and activism in more meaningful ways.
She also noted that a Gravity Research survey found that 78% of companies don’t plan to change their pride strategy this year. 13% were unsure whether they would make changes, and 9% said they planned to revise their strategies. Gravity Research surveyed 45 corporate executives and Fortune 500 leaders in various industries in April.
“It’s really important for companies to raise the flag and launch products to celebrate our pride and commemorate a very important month for our community, and I don’t want to belittle that,” Ellis said. “I do think, though, that These companies must look internally to ensure they have policies and HR practices that match their external marketing.”
Big companies are also writing checks for LGBTQ+ causes. A GLAAD spokesperson said Friday that the organization has not seen a drop in donations or corporate support during Pride Month but does not yet have total numbers.
On Friday, when the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center officially opened to honor the New York City bar that was a catalyst for the LGBTQ+ rights movement, the event received strong support from the business community. Backers include Google, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Booking.com.
President Joe Biden also attended the monument’s opening and delivered a speech.
Pride Month merchandise is displayed at a Target store on May 31, 2023 in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Bud Light and Target effects
Consumer staples brands are the most likely to say they plan to change their Pride Month strategy this year, according to Gravity Research. This may come from conservative Boycotted Target and Bud Light last year.
Target has been offering the Pride line for more than a decade. Last year, however, the large retailer Some items were removed and displays moved after employees faced threats. Boycotters target Separate Children’s Pride merchandise has also been criticized over items for trans shoppers, such as “foldable” swimsuits.
This year, Target is not putting Pride merchandise in all stores, but only selling it in select locations This product represents 90% of Pride’s total sales in 2022 and 2023.
On the company’s website and in these select stores, shoppers can find a variety of Pride-themed merchandise.
Number of negative feedbacks for the Pride series A Target spokesman said external and internal costs this year are “significantly lower” than in 2023.
Target said in a statement that it is “committed to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month and year-round,” and that in addition to offering Pride Month products, Target will participate in Pride events across the country and support the LGBTQ+ community.
On April 21, 2023, a sign disparaging Bud Light appeared on a rural road in Arco, Idaho. Bud Light brewer Anheuser-Busch is facing backlash after the company sponsored two Instagram posts by a transgender woman.
Natalie Belling | Natalie Bellinghetti Photos
On the other hand, Anheuser-Busch InBev and other major beer brands have backed away from public support for LGBTQ+ people.
Singer Kid Rock, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and more after Bud Light sends personalized cans of beer to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney Conservatives have called for a boycott of the beer and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev. The marketing campaign coincides with the March Madness college basketball tournament.
Bud Light sales plunged about 25%, and the brand lost its status as the best-selling beer in the United States, ceding a position it had held for more than two decades to Constellation Brands’ Modelo.
AB InBev distanced itself from Mulvaney and fired Bud Light’s vice president of marketing. In October, AB InBev Chief Executive Michel Doukeris said the brand would focus its marketing more on events such as sports games and concerts. It also returned as an official sponsor of the UFC.
Some consumers have returned to Bud Light in recent months, as RBC European analysts estimate the brand’s U.S. sales are currently down only about 10%. For its part, Bud Light has yet to post a message in support of Pride Month on its Instagram or X page this year.
Neil Reed, a geography professor at the University of Toledo who studies the beer industry, said the boycott was extremely intense for a number of reasons. Reed said research shows consumer loyalty to top-selling beers may have more to do with brand than taste.
Right-wing news outlets like Fox News also devoted considerable time to covering the controversy, extending its duration and potentially reaching new consumers who missed the initial reaction. Additionally, once Bud Light sales decline, retailers offer more shelf space to competitors.
“You can look at it from a moral, ethical perspective, or you can look at it from a purely business perspective. The two typically don’t result in the same strategies,” Reed said.
On March 18, 2024, the New York Stock Exchange welcomed elf Beauty (NYSE: ELF) to the podium to celebrate its 20th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Chairman and CEO Tarang Amin rang the Opening Bell® together with Tara Dziedzic, Head of Listings for the U.S. Segment of the New York Stock Exchange.
Double down on diversity
While some companies have become more cautious about their efforts to promote diversity, others have ramped up inclusion measures. Fairy beauty, For example, a provocative ad campaign called “So Many Dicks” was launched in mid-May. The ads, which appeared on billboards in prominent locations across New York City, highlighted that there were more men named Dick (including Richards, Riches, and Ricks) than underrepresented people in the entire group. It also includes footage of athlete and social rights activist Billie Jean King.
The beauty brand is one of only four publicly traded companies in the United States whose board is made up of two-thirds women and one-third racially diverse members.
Elf Beauty CEO Tarang Amin said customers, especially the core audience of Generation Z shoppers, want brands to support the causes they support. He said he’s noticed business leaders becoming increasingly hesitant to speak out Better than before.
“Our values are one of the things that really sets Elf apart and what our community expects,” he said.
Amin added: “If you don’t stand up for something you truly believe in and just give up because you’re afraid of someone’s disapproval, I think you’re going to lose the opportunity to really change the world.”
Amin said the company’s stock performance shows its diverse board and inclusive message are also boosting its bottom line. Elf shares are up about 46% this year, outpacing the S&P 500’s gain of about 15%.
This year, Pride events continue elsewhere in the business community. Skittles, as it has for the past five years, is selling limited-edition rainbow-colored candy Pride sets. The brand, owned by Mars Wrigley, will donate $1 for every Pride set sold to GLAAD, up to a maximum of $100,000, with matching donations of up to $25,000.
macy’s department store In June, LGBTQ+ owned, founded and designed brands were highlighted on the websites of Bloomingdale’s, Bluemercury and their namesake brand. Over the past five years, the department store operator has raised more than $6.2 million for The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that supports suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ young people.
GLAAD’s Ellis said she was encouraged by the company’s continued support and said they “will be on the right side of history.”
but she said There is still a lot of work to be done, especially to support the trans community. Politicians across the country have introduced bills that would limit gender-affirming care and transgender rights.
Gravity Research’s Hartig said companies have moved away from including transgender people in marketing campaigns after conservatives targeted them in political campaigns and during last year’s Pride Month.
But not all backlash against corporate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts has garnered the attention activists hoped for.
Rockville, Maryland-based enterprise data and analytics provider ISS-Corporate said there has been a surge in shareholder proposals opposing environmental, social and governance measures. At meetings of Russell 3000 companies held from January 1 to June 30 this year, the number of companies that have voted against ESG proposals increased to 83 from 55 in the same period in 2023 and 37 in 2022.
However, voter support has declined year by year, with median support in 2024 at 1.5%, compared with 1.7% in 2023 and 2.9% in 2022.
—CNBC’s Amelia Lucas contributed to this report
Revealed: CNBC is owned by Comcast NBCUniversal, one of the corporate sponsors of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center.
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