Dee-Ann Durbin and Anne D’Innocenzio – Associated Press June 5, 2023
Many big companies, including Target and Bud Light’s parent, are still backing Pride events in June despite the minefield that the monthlong celebration has become for some of them.
Target and Bud Light recently came under fire for their efforts to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community, only to come under more fire when they tried to backpedal.
But even as they battle the negative publicity, Target and Bud Light haven’t pulled away from this year’s Pride celebrations. Target is a platinum sponsor of NYC Pride, which requires a $175,000 donation. And Bud Light’s parent Anheuser-Busch is a sponsor of Pride celebrations in Chicago, San Francisco, Charlotte and elsewhere.
Many other big companies are sticking to their sponsorships as well, including PepsiCo, Starbucks, General Motors and Jeep parent Stellantis — all of which said they have been supporting Pride events for decades and aren’t hesitating to back them again this year.
Jeff Gennette, CEO of Macy’s, another major Pride sponsor, told The Associated Press that although the company has received some negative reactions to its Pride merchandise, the company is “very careful about how we put out this product that we select and how we position it on website and in stores” and doesn’t plan to remove any of it.
“We stand by our values and we’re a highly inclusive organization. And we think the bulk of America is as well,” Gennette said.
InterPride, which represents more than 375 Pride organizations globally, said 40% have reported their sponsorship dollars are up 20% or more this year.
The buying power of the LGBTQ+ community is likely too big for companies to ignore. LGBT Capital, a U.K.-based investment company, estimates the U.S. has more than 17 million LGBTQ+ people with more than $1 trillion in spending power.
“For every one customer knocking the display over, there are 10 who love it, and they are going to vote with their feet,” said Allen Adamson, co-founder and managing partner of marketing firm Metaforce.
Anheuser-Busch didn’t respond to questions from the AP about its Pride sponsorships. Target said its focus is “moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Despite the corporate support, there are clouds hovering over the rainbow.
A majority of negative social media posts about Pride this year are attacking companies for being “woke” and accusing them of sexualizing or grooming children, says RILA Global Consulting, which tracks more than 100 million websites and social media pages per day.
That’s an abrupt change from last year, when a majority of negative social media posts were focused on brands being “inauthentic” and not truly supporting the LGBTQ population even as they expanded their offerings.
In May and June of 2022, there were fewer than 400 posts calling for Pride-related boycotts, RILA said. This year, in May alone there were more than 15,000.
The backlash comes amid a furious and fast-spreading debate over the rights of transgender people. At least 17 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors, most since the start of this year.
Corporations celebrate gay pride month. Click to enlarge
That has left many companies feeling jittery.
“I had a sponsor last night say their CEO is skittish about getting political,” said Fernando Lopez, executive director of San Diego Pride. “The fact that they’re even having that conversation is disheartening at best.”
Target has long marketed to the LGBTQ+ community. But it recently found itself at the center of the bullseye when angry customers tipped over Pride displays and threatened staff in some stores. Target wound up removing certain items, to the dismay of LGBTQ+ supporters.
Six weeks earlier, transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney revealed on social media that Bud Light had sent her a commemorative can emblazoned with her picture. Boycott threats immediately followed, fueled by conservative commentators such as Matt Walsh, who has 1.9 million Twitter followers.
Kohl’s, Lego and Southwest Airlines also have taken heat for their LGBTQ-friendly marketing in recent days.
The backlash has produced real consequences. In the month ending May 13, Bud Light’s U.S. sales were down 23%, according to Bump Williams Consulting. Target’s shares have plunged 20% since mid-May, wiping away $15 billion in market value, although that’s partly due to investor concerns about inflation’s impact on shoppers.
Lopez, at San Diego Pride, worries that some companies will back out of Pride celebrations because of concerns that boycotters will target them.
“Companies may not be anti-LGBTQ, but they don’t want to be putting their employees in a potentially dangerous space,” Lopez said.
Suzanne Ford, the executive director of San Francisco Pride, said she understands that companies are facing difficult decisions but they also know that the LGBTQ+ community is watching very closely this year.
“In the end, human rights will win out,” Ford said. “And we’re going to remember: Did you shirk and disappear on us or did you step forward and say, ‘Even if it’s unpopular with a segment of the country, this is the right thing to do.’”
Some Pride organizations had already distanced themselves from Bud Light because they felt it wasn’t doing enough to support the LGBTQ+ community beyond the street parties in June.
When Anheuser-Busch’s multi-year sponsorship agreement with Miami Beach Pride ended in 2021, the organization signed a new multi-year contract with Molson Coors. Robert Legere, director of sponsorships for Miami Beach Pride, noted that Molson Coors’ seltzer brand Vizzy made a $1 million donation to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ group.
“We don’t just blindly say, ‘Oh sure, we’ll take your money.’ We want to make sure the companies have a clear path to why they want to participate,” Legere said.
Others, like San Francisco Pride, are sticking with Bud Light but bracing themselves for backlash from attendees who think the brand should have done more to support Mulvaney.
Ford, the executive director, said Anheuser-Busch has been a longtime patron and increased its donation to San Francisco Pride this year. The group relies on its sponsors to keep its two-day, $3 million festival free, Ford said, and its costs for labor and security are skyrocketing.
“There is some tension and we will be watching it. But on a local level, they’ve been a very great supporter,” she said.
In its hometown of St. Louis, Bud Light will sponsor the main stage at Pride and provide the beer for the VIP tent, said Jordan Braxton, the director of diversity, inclusion and outreach for Pride St. Louis.
“Times can be difficult, but they support us and we support them,” Braxton said. “They’ve been supporting us for years. It’s not our fault that you just woke up and realized it.”
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Associated Press Capitol Correspondent Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas contributed to this report.
THE ZIO+GOVERNMEMTS WAR ON ITS ELECTORATE
News from the trenches After seven years, 325 days of public hearings and evidence from 725 victims, the (IICSA) (Independent Inquiry into child sexual abuse ) in England and Wales has published its final report. It makes 20 recommendations for change, the first three of which are described as the “centrepiece” recommendations:
A statutory requirement for people working (whether paid or voluntary) in regulated activity or positions of trust must report all allegations of child sex abuse The report says failure to comply should be a new criminal offence where a mandated person was in receipt of a disclosure of child sexual abuse from a child or perpetrator or witnessed a child being sexually abused.
This follows on from Allegations in the Nene report that Esther Rantzens Child line hid up reports on certain people commiting these crimes.
Certain TV personalities were grooming vulnerable boys for sex with promises of fame and fortune when they left school.
Establishment of a national compensation scheme for people who have experienced child sexual abuse where there is a connection to state or non-state institutions. The level of compensation they should receive was not specified.
Creation of a child protection authority, one for England and one for Wales, to improve practice in child protection, inspect settings and provide advice to government.
compulsory perversion or else
http://www.renegadetribune.com/school-turns-into-pride-prison-for-indoctrinating-children/
It has been said many times that their profits do not matter because Blackrock etc. cover all the losses or can afford to lose individual companies
The financial backers to Tony Blairs New Labour party insisted on 2 things
Backers do not donate vast sums without some sort of kickbacks.
1 a war on the people of Iraq
2 the growth of the homosexual community by at least 5% per year
Lies and excuses such as Iraq being behind the twin towers and London 7-7 bombings
were enough to get a war going, even though in every town and city in the UK many millions of people marched to say, ” no war on the people of iraq”
and Tony Blair had his friend Robin Cook murdered for opposing the war.
Three women in New Labour Margaret Hodge ( children’s minister ) Patricia Hewitt and Harriet Harman actively wanted to decriminalise paedophilia and New labour actually funded PIE
Harriet Harmans uncle Lord Longford went into prisons for some years to talk to child sex killers
this went into the Longford Documents and later into the Massive Nene Report.
The upshot was the official opinion that Paedophilia must eventually be legalised along with Homosexuality, you cannot have one without the other, New Labour and the BBC were
on board with this, and the BBC have ben pro homosexual for some time.
They hid up the crimes and claimed Jimmy saville only abused girls
The Nene Report on page 27 quotes killer Robert Black as saying
“it does not matter if a child is boy or girl as its their bottom we need ”
e g Homosexual sex.
The BBC lawyers did everything to help Michael Barrymore get off even using Freemasonic law
when he met a ” straight guy” in a pub brought him back for a party, gave him drink and drugs
raped him and threw him into the swimming pool where he drowned.
This dreadful crime was played down and Barrymore was told when it blows over you will be back on TV, pretty well word for word what was said to Philip Schofield.
The jews who run advertising in New Zealand are currently advertising LESBIANISM via an advert for chewing gum….
They have two dykish lezos sitting in a car (presumably the chewing gum is there to cover bad breath) who then go into a smooching frenzy.The Queen dyke sort of forces her attention on the apprentice lezo.
DONT just consider the stupid nonsense in the advert…..consider WHO commission it……
no one wants to be a pervert how can folk take pride in it ?
Bert,
Disney’s decision to host its first-ever LGBT Pride Nite is a marked shift from its historical family-friendly focus, and many feel it’s a step too far.
We believe that theme parks should prioritize creating magical and universal experiences for families and children, free from explicit sexual or political content.
That’s why CitizenGO is launching a new campaign to encourage Disney to reaffirm its family-oriented values, and we need your support.
We’re asking Disney’s advertisers, like Mattel, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Walmart, Airbnb, and UPS, to reconsider their association with Disney. We want Disney to focus on enchanting storytelling rather than serving as a platform for ideological agenda. But we can’t make this happen without you.
Sign our petition today, join thousands of others, and let’s show Disney the power of a united front that believes in stopping the LGBT lobby and preserving childhood innocence.
Thank you for your support in this important fight,
Ignacio Arsuaga and the entire CitizenGO team
P.S. Disney has been relentlessly filling their children’s movies and TV shows with radical LGBT propaganda, and is now planning multiple Gay Pride Nites in its Parks.
We count on your signature to help us fight against these attempts at indoctrinating our children.
If you haven’t already, please go ahead and sign and share this petition with friends and family. Together we are making a difference!
Here’s the email we sent you earlier on this:
Disney’s latest attempt to propagate its ideological agenda is just unacceptable.
We urge Disney’s advertisers to withdraw their support for Disney, as a result of the harmful promotion of LGBT content that is to be exposed to children during the upcoming Gay Pride Nite at Disneyland Park.
Sign this petition today to target Disney’s advertisers like Mattel, Marriot Hotels & Resorts, Walmart, Airbnb or UPS: together, we can stop Disney from indoctrinating children with gender ideology and LGBT propaganda.
SIGN THE PETITION
Disney recently disclosed plans for its first-ever Pervert Pride Nite, scheduled for June in their parks worldwide, including California and Paris. This is a step away from Disney’s legacy as a place for pure, family-friendly fun.
We believe that theme parks, especially ones designed for children and families, should focus on creating magical experiences that transcend cultural and political boundaries.
Unfortunately, it seems Disney has veered off that path.
At CitizenGO, we’re launching a campaign to urge Disney to recenter its values. We’re targeting Disney’s advertisers, like Mattel Inc and Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Walmart, Airbnb, or UPS, hoping to shed light on this recent ideological shift. We want Disney to remain a dream factory for children, not a platform for political or social agendas.
We need your help. Sign our petition today, join thousands of others, and let’s show Disney the power of a united front that believes in stopping the LGBT lobby and preserving childhood innocence
Still dreaming that there are multiple “companies”? They’re all owned and controlled by the same people. Are you demented?
priDEMONth is a hellava ride
to a place where one is eternally fried!
F#@ked, screwed, tucked, whipped, sliced to size
so that down Satan’s gullet one can easily slide!!
The DEMON is there in front of your eyes!
But you’re in love with his damn disguise!
‘Bye, ‘bye, sucker! Suck Satan dry!
Sell your soul while you dance and die!
Some market commentators are saying in this downturn McDonalds and other fast-food outlets are in big trouble as the US consumer cuts back dramatically.
Here’s a measure of how deceptive the LGBTQ+ lobby is.
We are told that June is Pride month internationally. That’s 30 days of forbearance and gritting of teeth, for those of us who object to homosexual exhibitionism in broad daylight, especially while children are witness.
June? Yet, I had already noted that the Pride Parade in my hometown this year was scheduled for the last week of July. (I am considering attending as a silent, billboard-bearing protestor.) Late July Pride seemed a little out of synch, so I decided to investigate. At a site called prideshop.co.uk, I discovered the full itinerary for Pride festivals in the UK for 2023.
During the month of June, there are 29 LGBTQ+ parades to be held throughout the British Isles. There are 48 Pride marches scheduled for July and a further 21 for August.
From February 1st up until the end of September 2023, so far, 128 Pride Days have been organized for England, Scotland and Wales. There are dozens more events given, that are listed as “to be arranged.”
On average, that’s eleven celebrations of kink every month, in a town or city, somewhere in the UK, based on, an as yet incomplete timetable of events, excluding three months of the year, to date.
Within a 28 mile radius of where I live, five separate queer parades are planned for the coming months.
It is transgender tourism, with participants roving around Britain’s LGBTQ+ festival circuit throughout the year.
So the notion of June as Pride month is a mere ruse. Every month is Pride month in the UK.
Imagine if there were 128 “Sexy Women In Bikinis” parades annually in Britain. Actually, best not to. You might spill your tea.
Instead of the image of Christ in their souls, these deceived purveyors of disreality frame the image of the lord of the flies in their diseased souls.
A few years ago I heard BBC radio seriously discussing “the Pink Pound”, that Britain might have an economic future being male prostitutes for American tourists