You’ve seen why your business needs LGBT-Marketing. You’ve learned about some of the most important dos and don’ts, and you now know why some companies have failed hard or won big with LGBT ad campaigns. Now, it’s time to talk about backlash. The sad truth is that LGBT-related topics are still regarded as controversial by some groups. Whether you like it or not, voicing one’s opinion has never been easier. One tweet can be the start of a whirlwind of negativity (less eloquently put, a shit storm). So, let’s say you’ve launched your campaign and the shit starts hitting the fan. Now, do not panic. The Queer Marketing Blog has you covered. I’ve created a video explaining some simple things to do when facing conservative backlash:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8_5vHO4ook
Now, I’m curious to hear from you! Have you ever boycotted a brand? If yes (there’s plenty of noble reasons to boycott brands), why?
Stay tuned for the next post on how to avoid pinkwashing by making your brand inclusive from within, first.
In the meantime, please share my blog post with your peers!
Do you want to know more about LGBT-Marketing? Read my other posts, too!
🌈 4 Reasons Why Your Business Needs LGBT-Marketing
🌈 The Dos and Don’ts of LGBT-Marketing
🌈 LGBT-Marketing: Worst Practices
🌈 LGBT-Marketing: Best Practices
🌈 Rainbow-Washing: Explained
Literature:
Witeck, R., & Combs, W. (2006). Business inside out: Capturing millions of brand-loyal gay consumers. Kaplan Pub..
Hey, Oliver, great post! I work in marketing myself and find your articles very helpful. I think you have to be very careful today about what and how you communicate something. Unfortunately, even today you still read and hear discriminatory contributions. I am curious about your further posts!
Hi Anja! Thank you! Me too, but somehow I’ve never found a lot of information about LGBT-Marketing specifically so I decided to write about it myself, instead. 🙂
Hi Olivier,
very interesting post.
I fully agree that consistency is key, a brand should stick to its core values and to what it does best.
Ultimately that is what a great brand is about.
Thank you Oli for this post. Unfortunately, there are always negative voices in many controversial campaigns but amazing how you show in this video how to best act in such a situation. Keep up your good work!
Thank you so much for your comment, Eva! And, yes, unfortunately that’s very true. I think one important thing to keep in mind, too, is to always find out who the boycotters are. In Subaru’s case, the detractors had never bought one of their cars before, were extremely unlikely to ever buy one anyway, and sometimes even misspelled the brand’s name. That’s how they knew they could just ignore them and carry on.