Make America Great Again Pride Tee via The Donald Trump Store.
In recent years, the increasing consumerism attached to Pride Month has hardly gone unnoticed — numerous LGBTQ+ campaigners have questioned whether the celebration has lost its radical roots due to the proliferation of nonsensical branded products and cringy co-opting of an activist event. With every Pride, comes more and more rainbow-washed items, splashed across supermarket shelves and highstreet stores as well-timed marketing stunts rather than as a means to actually help oppressed LGBTQ+ communities. Quite frankly we’re tired of it, so we’ve rounded-up the worst offenders this Pride Month to find out whether their true intentions are really as bad as we thought (spoiler: yes they are).
M&S add the G to the BLT for an all-inclusive sandwich
M&S have fallen foul of an acronymic blunder, deeming it appropriate to rebrand the humble BLT into a new LGBT sandwich (that’s lettuce, guacamole, bacon and tomato, in case you were wondering). We’re sure the sandwich tastes great, but we have a sneaking suspicion that the real impetus behind M&S’ creation is not to provide under-represented and mistreated members of the global LGBTQ+ community with a satisfying luncheon to power them through the arduous march against the oppressive heteronormative system, but to get a few extra coins through a totally transparent marketing ploy. Because in reality, a sandwich isn’t doing much on its own to promote the fight for equality, even in rainbow packaging.
Listerine Cool Mint, but make it queer
Just like regular Listerine mouthwash, but the bottle is wrapped in a Pride flag, so you can display it at home and show your friends just how woke you really are! In a poorly thought-out case of product branding that has nothing to do with the product or the brand, the special edition mouthwash takes its place alongside other pink-washed and generally unnecessarily othering products — BIC for her, we’re looking at you — that appear to make some kind of statement but aren’t really sure what that is…
You can’t fault Trump’s sense of irony
And for the gift that literally no one asked for, why not invest in a “Make America Great Again” Pride hat, complete with embroidered “Trump” in rainbow lettering? While we can’t quite imagine the Venn diagram in which support for the LGBTQ+ community handily overlaps with support for the 45th president of the United States, whose administration has been relatively successful in attacking the civil rights of the LGBTQ+ community in America, and who has not shown any support for Pride on the rampaging stream of consciousness that is the @realDonaldTrump Twitter feed, the flame-coloured headwear is available to purchase at a paltry $35 (for the same price you could also subscribe to Netflix for 4 months, treat yourself to a mani-pedi or donate to organisations that are actually focussed on the issues affecting the community. Up to you). While we would be inclined to believe that this must be a joke, we were also inclined to think the same of the president’s election campaign, and look how wrong we were… This rainbow-coloured cap is a lion in sheep’s clothing if ever we saw one.
The rainbow crisp we still don’t think we need
Way back in 2015, Doritos created a limited-edition rainbow crisp in collaboration with It Gets Better Project, an LGBTQ+ non-profit organisation, but it seems that the original message may have been left far behind. While the brand may have introduced the multi-coloured with the best intentions at heart, the snack has become little more than a gimmick that takes its place on a list of unnecessarily multi-coloured versions of foodstuffs from bagels to spaghetti. The crisps are now only available to buy in Mexico, and seem to have been moulded into a marketing ploy to bring in a lil’ extra dollar at mexicancandylady.com.
Don’t fix what’s not broken
IKEA‘s signature FRAKTA shopping bag has taken on various guises over the years, and inspired the design of everything from face masks to thongs sporting the garish yellow lettering against the bright blue plastic that can withstand the heaviest of flat-pack furniture items. Now, the carry-all is being re-designed in a wash of rainbow brights to be the perfect accessory for toting around your banners this Pride. Yes, IKEA are donating 100% profits to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, but we can’t help but see this is another thinly veiled measure of corporate rainbow-washing to drive IKEA’s brand image beyond the equally flat-pack nuclear family into a whole new sphere of wokeness.
Look what we made her do
Not necessarily a product, but what about Taylor Swifts’ new video for “You Need To Calm Down,” which premiered this week? The video is saturated with queer references — from Swift’s technicoloured wig to the generally queasy rainbow aesthetic and all-star cast of every queer figure in Hollywood…“well, if RuPaul and Ellen are on board!,” I hear you cry. Swift has already received backlash from LGBTQ+ activists, however, for using a human rights cause to her monetary advantage, and we have to agree. Whilst the equal rights message makes no attempt to be subtle, the climax of the video focuses on a reunion between Swift and supposed long-term nemesis, Katy Perry instead. The pair, dressed up as a burger and fries, embrace and we are almost sucked into being heartwarmed, when we remember that this is meant to be about supporting the LGBTQ+ community and not just another re-boot of Swift’s pop career and a well-timed ploy to reenforce her image as an ally and friend to all…oh wait. While the video has apparently prompted an influx of donations to GLAAD and signatures for a change.org petition supporting the Equality Act, Swift is ultimately a businesswoman, who knows how to capitalise on social causes. Whether or not the song marks a genuine commitment to the campaign for equal rights — the jury’s out on this one — we’re just not sure it’s hit the mark in its attempts to become a Pride anthem.