I'm not a part of the LGBTG+ community and never will be because I'm straight. I'm about as straight as it gets. I also don't actually care what sexuality you are. However, June is Pride Month and my email inbox and Facebook posts are puking rainbows and it's starting to piss me off. I'm a businesswoman and I know that all those rainbow hearts mean dollar signs to the marketing departments.
Companies do not care about the LGBTQ+ community, even if they say they care a lot.
Here's what happens...
A company decides they want to use awareness for an issue to promote a product. In this case, it would be pride month. They slap the name all over their products, emails, and other advertisements, but don't discount anything. Rather, they ask you to buy the product at full price, then ask to tag on extra money for the charity or cause. The marketing department has to spend money on advertisements anyway, so it's pretty much all profit. By slapping pride month and rainbows in the subject of their emails, they are making thousands, sometimes millions of dollars.
This doesn't just happen with pride month. It happens with mental health awareness month, breast cancer month, black history month, or really any other type of awareness there is.
That's what business people call "good" marketing. It's "good" because it's rolling in the dough.
Not all companies do this. I worked for a company that often donated 10% of the proceeds to local farmers. However, I knew that proceeds were going to farmers. The company never asked to round up for a cause or ask for five dollars in addition to buying the product. They asked for a dollar to donate, but the customer received a $1 coupon off a meal, so the customer actually got the dollar back. I knew that the company genuinely wanted to donate money, and they used proceeds to do it. Most larger companies will not do that.
Beauty companies aggravate me the most because they have the largest amount of LGBTQ+ supporters. They know if they slap "The Trevor Project" in any advertisement, they are going to get clicks. "The Trevor Project" is a charity that provides 24/7 suicide hotlines to LGBTQ+ youths and they rely almost solely on volunteers and money. Celebrities donate thousands of dollars to The Trevor Project every year, and yet they still ask for more. One beauty company (shall remain unnamed) was asking for money for The Trevor Project by adding $1, $5, or $10 to your order. So, you're still buying a product at full price, and donating money. That helps the company more than the charity. It's a disgusting scam that people need to stop buying into.
I'm not saying don't donate. Donate to whatever charity you believe contributes to society. However, don't donate through adding dollar signs to an already full priced product, because the company just won your business without really doing any work. They really don't care where you donate your money. They only care that you're buying their product at full price. Donate to the cause directly, because you know that the money will for sure go to that charity, and you won't be wasting money on a product you probably don't need.
