The hollowness of corporate Pride

Corporations — entities that have long capitalized on social causes to chase profit — seem to be telling on themselves with an apparent pullback on Pride Month marketing this year. 

“There’s been a definite scaling back in both big and small ways,” Joanna Schwartz, a marketing professor who studies outreach to LGBTQ audiences at Georgia College & State University, told Vox. “I had expected some brand caution, but this year seems [to be] a near full-scale retreat.”

Multiple marketing experts Vox spoke to noted that some stores have toned down their messaging or decided to offer less merchandise — and, as the Associated Press put it, “at some chains, there’s no trace of Pride at all.”

Target, for instance, announced that it would limit Pride merchandise sales to roughly half of its stores, while Nike said it wouldn’t launch a Pride collection this year. (A Target spokesperson reiterated the company’s commitment to the LGBTQ community and pointed to its internal programs, Pride products, and its support of in-person events. A Nike spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)