Member Article

Pride is for life, not just for June

With the LGTBQ+ issues hitting the headlines in Qatar clearly insight on how businesses should engage with this community is key. New research shows that over half of LGBTQ+ individuals (51%) think rainbow products are not authentic. They would prefer brands to take a year-long approach to their LGBTQ+ strategy, rather than ramping up activity during the month of Pride.

Despite this however rainbow activity during Pride still has a vital role to play, with 49 per cent of the LGTBQ+ community believing that there is a positive role for branded Pride activity.

The study, which investigates how brands can use their influence to affect positive change, shows that 40 per cent of LGBTQ+ people want businesses to listen to the issues they face and help them try to address them. This is reinforced by the finding that over a quarter (28 per cent) of those outside the community currently see no issues for LGBTQ+ individuals.

The key issues were found to be:

· Trans rights – the public discourse around transgender individuals in the media is causing many to feel the whole community is under attack

· Bullying/Harassment – 38 per cent are concerned about abuse towards the community with 25 per cent citing physical violence

· Health – many wider systemic issues came out, particularly around healthcare; including having children, how the monkeypox pandemic has been handled compared to COVID, and a third are concerned about mental health issues

With brands working collaboratively with the LGBTQ+ community to address these issues 55 per cent feel optimistic about the future of LGBTQ+ rights.

The research also found that 44 per cent would also like brands to concentrate their effort on internal training and awareness of LGTBQ+ issues within their organisations. And a large proportion also believe that brands should not be allowed to profit from rainbow activity with over two thirds (67 per cent) believing profits should be donated to LGBTQ+ charities.

We believe what this shows that there is a wealth of opportunity here for brands that actively want to bridge the rainbow gap. What is clear is that any activity must be authentic, so listening to the audience and their needs is crucial. And it is worth remembering that genuine mistakes are forgiven but profiteering from a cause is not.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Yonder .