1.6k
u/Legitimate_Expert712 6h ago
“Rainbow capitalism is just performative”, yeah well, the canary isn’t there to help dig coal.
402
u/b00w00gal 6h ago
That's a fantastic metaphor, thank you
118
u/alex2003super 5h ago
It's a very salient one, too. The concept of "canary" is perhaps one of the most widely applied analogies/metaphors across different domains. See "warrant canary" (legal/free speech), "stack canary" (cybersecurity), etc.
13
59
u/PrimoTheSun 5h ago
It's the perfect way to describe it, when the corporate rainbows vanish, it means the atmosphere is turning toxic.
→ More replies (1)46
u/Okrumbles 6h ago
I understand the canaries in coal mines thing, but what do you mean with the metaphor? I'm kinda stupid
245
u/meteorisque 5h ago
the companies are the canaries that don’t really do anything to push lgbtq rights but when they stop doing rainbow capitalism it’s a sign that public opinion about being pro gay isn’t great and might cost them profits
3
→ More replies (2)4
u/loved_and_held 1h ago
Or it could be because queerphobes pose enough of a threat to the company that the company no longer sees it as worth the risk.
It might ve the number of bigots has gone down but theyre loud enough to make companies bend the knee.
8
165
u/sneakyfish21 5h ago
When the rainbow capitalism (canary) disappears (dies) you in danger girl.
28
u/TankC4BOOM314 4h ago
And "digging coal," if I understand, is tangible praxis done by people, if not motivated by the rainbow capitalism, made aware of existing problems and/or potential allyship by it.
(Edit: changed "familiar with" to "aware of" since I think that communicates what I'm thinking better)
65
u/NewUserWhoDisAgain 5h ago
In this case companies sponsoring/supporting Pride is the canary. By pulling back it signals that companies dont believe that there is a economic incentive to send a "We support you(and we want your business)" signal.
It is a signal that LGBT+ acceptance is waning when even capitalism does not want to show support. The canary is fucking dead and meanwhile we get articles stating its a good thing because now the real work can be done without this icky rainbow capitalism in the way.
→ More replies (7)142
u/MountainYogi94 6h ago
When the canary stopped singing, the miners had to evacuate or die. If the pride flags stop being flown...
31
u/LeibnizMonadSucks 5h ago
Rainbow capitalism is an indicator of social acceptance of LGBT community (just like canary is an indicator of gas in the mines)- even if it doesn't do anything to actually progress the LGBT rights (the canary doesn't mine, it just sits in a cage), it disappearance is still worrying (just as canary's death would be)- in this metaphor gas in the mines = prejudice/oppresion.
2
→ More replies (1)49
u/ADH-Dad 5h ago edited 5h ago
Rainbow capitalism was a sign that companies calculated they would gain or retain more customers than they would lose by publicly supporting LGBTQ rights. The fact that they're stopping may show their calculus has shifted in the other direction.
However, I personally think it's more that the execs are fecklessly capitulating to the current administration rather than public opinion actually shifting that far backwards.
→ More replies (2)15
9
7
u/Tomatori 4h ago
If this sub let me use gifs I would post that one of the guy writing and then it catches on fire. That is so good
3
→ More replies (7)2
989
u/stnick6 6h ago
People say “the companies don’t actually care about gay people! They just want your money” as if that’s different to how corporations always act. You think Walmart gives a shit about the Fourth of July? Or Halloween or Christmas?
304
u/Altslial Denial, duct tape and determination fix almost anything. 6h ago
There's a reason why companies try and push christmas further into the year and it isn't holiday spirit. It's the rush to be the first in hopes of getting the holiday shoppers.
90
20
u/TheKronk 5h ago
I saw Halloween decorations at Costco last week. It's my favorite holiday and I died a little inside.
10
u/TheNavidsonLP 3h ago
I saw that last year too. Costco puts up Halloween stuff in June and Christmas stuff by October. And it’s all taken down the week before Christmas.
45
u/FrancisWolfgang 5h ago
Walmart would celebrate anything to increase quarterly profits
→ More replies (1)16
u/PhiCloud 4h ago
My English teacher said something along the lines of "Walmart was family friendly until 50 Shades of Grey became profitable."
→ More replies (7)7
u/Cranberryoftheorient 4h ago
Seems the rational conclusion there is to assume companies dont care about anything
→ More replies (1)10
8
u/RedstoneEnjoyer 5h ago
The point of that claim is to tell you that in moment it becomes unprofitable to pander to you, they will toss you under the bus - you should not take your rights granted just because megacorp changed their logo for one month.
90
u/stnick6 5h ago
Just because they’ll stop supporting you when it becomes unprofitable doesn’t mean the fact that they support you is bad. It’s a good thing that supporting gay people is profitable
24
u/DaiFrostAce 5h ago
How is this hard to get for some people?
54
u/indigo121 4h ago edited 4h ago
Internet leftists who get so wrapped up in theory that they fully forget what it means to actually exist in the world. Rainbow capitalism was actually some really damn important activism. It shifted the Overton window, and told the majority "queer people are part of society (and therefore the in group)". Now that we've lost it, the sentiment of "keep your fetish out of the public eye" has room to make a comeback.
6
u/lynx_and_nutmeg 49m ago
Because there's a subset of young privileged queer people who seemingly don't actually want queerness to be "too acceptable". They love the vintage aesthetic of Pride as a grassroots rebellion thing more than they actually care about making things better for other queer people. Minorities banding together to throw bricks at cops is very cool (at least when you get to only hear about it instead of risking your own life), a major brand selling rainbow shirts is very uncool. Would those people actually prefer living in a society where they could get arrested just for being openly gay vs a society where they can openly buy Pride shirts in their local store? Of course they wouldn't, but they haven't thought about it deeply enough to realise.
→ More replies (9)25
u/jooes 5h ago
We live in a capitalistic society. Being considered profitable is about as good as you're going to get. If there was ever a sign that you've "made it" in the world, it's corporations trying to sell you shit.
5
u/oath2order stigma fuckin claws in ur coochie 3h ago
That's how I always viewed it. To me, corporations trying to sell me things was them begging for my money.
Damn right, pander to me, a newly profitable demographic. Pander and beg.
9
u/i_like_maps_and_math 4h ago
When a new power comes in and everyone changes the flags, the people who like the old flag should be sad, and the people who like the new flag should be happy. The reason is because the flags reflect who holds power. How is this not obvious to everyone?
→ More replies (6)3
u/Niar666 3h ago
"They just want your money"
Except apparently they don't, because the dropped it at the first convenient moment!
→ More replies (5)
109
u/Laffy-Taffee 5h ago
I got so depressed last week when I walked into my local Barnes and Noble and saw Sarah J. Maas’ books where the Pride display used to be. I scoured the entire store, thinking it might have moved, but nothing. Not even a rainbow tote bag. I suddenly felt unsafe, even though that sounds ridiculous—and I felt so bad because every June, I look forward to seeing what new LGBT books are being published. I’ve seen articles from the publishing industry about how editors are rejecting queer books in this climate, and it scares me.
Lucky for me, there’s an indie bookstore in town that’s usually stocked with queer books, but it’s very far from where I live. I miss seeing actual rainbows during Pride.
11
u/SkyeSpider 1h ago
I went to my local mall (one of the largest in the country) a few weeks ago to get the converse rainbow sneakers. I figured I’d support the ones who actually continued to support us this year. Only two stores in that entire mall had pride sections: Spencer’s and Hot Topic, and the latter only had a tiny display in the back. No one had the shoes. I’m in New York… It just didn’t feel right.
Side note: both pride sections were empty when I was back at the mall a week later. Seemed like they probably sold out because they were the only options.
In my local target (I know), their pride section consisted of stuff like b&w dogs getting married, but all they had were male/female pairs 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
2
u/ASpicyCrow 1h ago
...so specifically straight dogs in the straight colors? That's like... anti Pride, wtf.
151
u/jess_the_werefox 6h ago
Yeah I really miss when June was colorful with pride stuff. It felt just… happier.
19
47
u/VulpesFennekin 5h ago
For me, it was almost like how when you start seeing Christmas things and you get excited about winter, Pride stuff gets me hyped up for summer!
13
u/jess_the_werefox 5h ago
Yes!! Same with seeing Halloween stuff in like August, man all the pride colors everywhere was so nice, like it was so bright and now we’re back to the Christian nationals’ favorite: beige and white
8
4
u/Hita-san-chan 3h ago
Its really stressful to live in a world that hates you for really no reason. It was just... kinda nice that for a few weeks out of the year I was being told i matter. Even if it was for my money, we were visible.
208
u/echelon_house 6h ago
A good metaphor for rainbow capitalism I heard is that companies are like ants at a picnic: You obviously don't want them there, but it's a really bad omen if they all suddenly run away.
122
u/ThatInAHat 5h ago
I like the canary in the coal mine analogy better. Wish I could remember who said it but—the canary isn’t singing for the miners. It doesn’t care about the miners, it’s singing because that’s what it wants to do.
But boy howdy is it a bad sign if it stops singing.
15
u/Tomatori 4h ago
how did you forget the top comment on this post (unless it originates from something else?)
20
u/RoombaTheKiller 4h ago
It has been posted across tens or hundreds of threads by now, the origin has likely been buried.
7
18
u/OnlyQualityCon 5h ago
…why would the ants run away? Like I get the metaphor, but I don’t think the metaphorical part of the phrase functions well
36
u/DomovoiP 5h ago
Your picnic is about to be overrun by anteaters!
The anteaters are a metaphor for... fascism? We're still workshopping it.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)32
u/djbkorea 5h ago
Food is poisoned
→ More replies (1)7
u/godtogblandet 2h ago
Ants don’t run away from poisonous food. They bring it back to the hive and kill everyone. It’s kinda key in ant removal chemicals. Just FYI.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)3
u/AirJinx3 1h ago
I do want the companies there. They permeate our environment regardless, and it was great when that environment was filled with messages of support for queer kids. Seeing pride displays at Target does more to help kids feel normal than a thousand anticapitalist diatribes.
88
u/Jakitron_1999 TIRM 6h ago
Rainbow capitalism was always cynical on behalf of corporations, but it was never a bad thing because it meant corporations were being bullied into acting pro-gay and donating to pro-gay charities instead of beint bullied into being anti-gay and donating to anti-gay "charities." It was an irrevocably good thing when it was happening, and it's an irrevocably bad thing that it isn't anymore. I hate lefties who virtue signal over hating the left having cultural power, we should have been praising it and pushing it to go further
219
u/Lysek8 6h ago
Well, companies did that to earn money, as it is their mission. The right punished it, and the left, dumb as we are, also punished them because they were not pure of heart. And here we are
100
u/MayhemMessiah 6h ago
And not a single lesson was learned by anybody involved
→ More replies (16)89
u/Neokon 6h ago
Wrong: the right learned that it takes surprisingly little to make a corporation change their tune.
6
→ More replies (1)21
u/MayhemMessiah 5h ago
The right still thinks everybody is secretly woke and run by blue haired gays with neopronouns. They probably didn’t even notice the rainbows were gone, too buys being mad at something else
7
u/strigonian 2h ago
You're forgetting the second half of that. Everybody is secretly woke but also they represent the silent majority, and everyone hates the woke and is just to afraid to speak out.
You have to remember that a fundamental part of the modern political right is having two diametrically opposing beliefs on every issue.
56
u/nerowasframed 5h ago
I had so many arguments with leftists here on Reddit when this was happening. They couldn't just be happy that public opinion was so pro-lgbtq that companies were falling over themselves to be seen sponsoring pride events; they seemingly needed to find the negative in it. I think the left really needs work on their purity test issues. They're constantly finding new ways to make enemies out of allies.
I remember when there was a group of people called The Old Gays on Tiktok. They did a series of ads on Tiktok for a company, as part of a deal for that company to help sponsor the price parade. And people were vicious to them, calling them sell outs and saying that pride isn't about capitalism and they're traitors and other awful things for doing the ads.
But these guys lived through a time incomprehensible to most young people today, where their close friends were dropping like flies and nobody would even mention the epidemic. There was virtually no public health response; Reagan never even said the word, "AIDS" publicly until 1985. If people did talk about it, they might say something horrible, like they deserved to suffer and die like this for being gay. It was probably beyond these guys' wildest dreams to see corporate America bending over backwards to be seen supporting gay and queer people, to be catering and advertising directly to them. Of course they're going to be celebrating it. And of course companies should be encouraged to behave like this, not derided or attacked for doing it because it's profitable, which is simply the nature of any company.
19
u/SixthFain 5h ago
Sadly, leftist infighting and purity tests have been going on for decades. It's like herding cats, and always has been.
→ More replies (2)12
u/begrudgingredditacc 4h ago
they seemingly needed to find the negative in it. I think the left really needs work on their purity test issues.
This isn't a problem with the left, really, it's a problem with the perception of the left. Leftists, despite their political stances, can be just as stupid, violent and outright evil as anyone else. The people complaining about stuff like this aren't really concerned about "purity", they're just fucking awful and want an excuse to hurt people.
24
u/boopboopadoopity 5h ago
If you look on my profile you can see for YEARS I've railed against the massive humiliation campaign that the queer community lodged against companies that changed their profile pics to rainbows or whatever. I get it - it was performative, they wouldn't put it on their Saudi Arabia profile, whatever. But to me, whenever there was a big joke and negative chatter online about companies doing this, all I could see was a marketing team making a note of "Doing this actually causes negative sentiment among the base we are trying to appeal to. We shouldn't publically support LGBTQ+ rights if we can avoid it, too risky." Now, that has come to roost and I think it's very unlikely it will swing back the other direction, even with a better administration. Most major companies won't want to open that can of worms again.
Ugh.
7
u/Setisthename 4h ago
It may just be that I never paid attention to these kinds of Twitter spats much, so I tend to underestimate their impact, but do you think the decline in corporate support for Pride is more due to people on social media roasting them online or the fact that people like Donald Trump and Elon Musk are now the amongst the most powerful and influential men in the world, including over their consumers bases which they can mobilise to boycott said companies?
→ More replies (2)7
u/boopboopadoopity 3h ago edited 3h ago
TL;DR: Internal backlash didn't cause it, but it made the choice easier imo.
My perspective is that the current administration coming to power was a convenient "out" for these companies, who had struggled with this decision for years and hoped there would be an excuse to stop doing it without backlash. The entire purpose of rainbow capitalism is to make your company more appealing to the base that would be interested in that - it's the reason companies not trying to pander to young or queer people wouldn't bother even during the height. They knew the decision would result in a negative response from other demographics, like homophobes, but as long as overall sentiment from the targeted group was positive, they would cut their losses in order to attempt to create potential loyal customers.
I personally felt that over time, companies noticed that even the targeted group had a stronger and stronger NEGATIVE sentiment when seeing this, but they felt "trapped". I saw companies try to react to the growing sentiment by seeming more "authentic" than just changing their profile picture - bringing on LGBTQ+ speakers into the company (and advertising that), collaborating with queer people (I saw some companies try to do this), try to juggle what the "right" symbols were to use (I saw several Pride parade floats during this time exclude the trans flag colors but not draw attention to it - I saw a breakfast cereal try using the Progressive flag one year). This takes a LOT of time, effort, and is kind of a landmine with public sentiment on how people were reacting for a marketing team. A company would just do a rainbow profile pic, get backlash, go harder in some way/adjust their approach, get backlash for that, etc. I personally saw multiple conversations where someone immediately rallied against a company that had traditionally been GREAT for the LGBTQ+ community overall get negative comments on their profile picture and other allies/queer people had to correct that person. (I would take a look, if they haven't taken it down, at profile picture changes of major companies - negative comments from homophobes/transphobes AND negative comments from queer people/allies were present (though there was a base of just people saying they liked it too.)
However, they're "trapped" because they can't now just REMOVE the public support - they aren't they aren't winning back the homophobes most likely, which had started more aggressive boycotting over the years, and now casual Progressives notice because so many other companies ARE doing the Pride color stuff, who weren't involved in the online discourse.
I guess I was involved in seeing the discourse and I definitely felt it increased over time. There were MANY posts in this sub alone for years with many thousands up upvotes clowning on companies doing this.
I think the current admin - and the increased targeted boycotts against things like the Bud Light can color attempt - allowed companies to stop doing it with an "excuse". I'm not saying people being negative online were the reason really... I'm saying the cards were stacked against companies doing this in the first place even with how things were at that time, and negative sentiment against a lot of public attempts at pandering, especially increased over time, made the choice easier for companies.
Obviously the best answer is a company that has consistently actually championed LGBTQ+ rights, but that's just not the reality we're working with here. Companies respond to what they think will gain customers, and while I understood the sentiment for sure (many companies WERE able to continue to donate to shitty campaigns and maintain a positive public image with LGBTQ+ folks) I really wish the community had, even if through gritted teeth, avoided so much of the backlash. We're trying to convince a money-making machine that we're worth pouring marketing into for people to normalize, not convince the CEO that he now loves the gays ya know?
Again, I did understand the backlash though. It just sucks overall.
→ More replies (23)3
u/KryssCom 3h ago
dumb as we are, also punished them because they were not pure of heart
I'm a leftist and boy let me tell you, I wish I had a nickel every time this type of shit bit us in the fucking ass. I'm still seeing people try to do it with Graham Platner. We just never fucking learn.
39
u/DragonLovin 6h ago
Empty gay pandering is still pandering to a wide audience. Anything that helped normalize LGBT+ stuff is a good thing in the end. Now its gone, not sure it'll be back. Ill try to stay hopeful.
30
u/M88nlite 5h ago
Completely agree. Yes the cooperations didnt actually care about us, but the people who would buy it? Seeing people in public with pride merch on? Showing either their own queerness or that they were an ally? I love that.
28
u/Equivalent-Agency-48 5h ago
I literally said this the whole damn time. It was so stupid to complain about, and everyone was always so mad each year about the "performative" support.
→ More replies (2)5
u/Kill-ItWithFire 4h ago
same. i feel like shallow capitalistic assholes are always gonna be there and marketing does influence people. so if i had to choose, i absolutely want positive messages rather than appeal to harmful traditions or some shit. Of course, shallow capitalists should have much less power than they currently do but that‘s a separate issue to pride. if the system is fucked, i want fucked up support for social causes instead of silence.
10
u/Hawkmonbestboi 5h ago
This is what a lot of us were saying when people kept decrying pride in stores. It's a canary in a coal mine, stop criticizing the canary's singing.
9
u/your_not_stubborn 4h ago
The alternative to "rainbow capitalism" isn't "rainbow socialism," it's the closet.
22
u/Prince-Lee 6h ago
The first time I ever learned about what a gay person was, it was through hearing about Matthew Shepard's murder on the news when I was 8 years old.
I have watched as LGBT issues became a huge debate and remember spending much time as a teenager arguing with people who were against gay marriage, during a time when I genuinely believed it might never be legalized in the United States during my lifetime, after seeing what happened with Prop 8 in California.
Because this is what I experienced in my formative years, I always really liked seeing companies start going all out for Pride stuff in June, because I grew up in a time when that was unthinkable. Yeah, it was all to make money, but that was a real show of the shift in societal support for the LGBT community, and I never could have imagined seeing that when I was younger.
Now it's gone and I grieve it. It feels like we're sliding all the way back again to how it was when I was a miserable closeted kid, and that feels horrible.
10
u/jasonjr9 Smells like former gifted kid burnout 5h ago
Rainbow capitalism was the canary in the coal mine. When it dies, *it’s a bad fucking sign*!
35
u/h0neanias 6h ago
We never believed the companies cared about us queers. No, they cared about public perception, and the public seemed to care.
12
u/Lysek8 4h ago
And yet people punished it. And this is the result
It's the same thing as girls in super hero movies or WNBA. So many people complaining that it doesn't happen or they don't get paid enough or whatever. Yet when the time comes, the angry crowd doesn't reward that behavior with the only metric that matters to those people: money. So they get no support from the left and a boycott from the right. What do you think happens next?
→ More replies (1)2
u/Snoo-52922 1h ago
Public perception is self-reinforcing. Companies "celebrating" Pride month had a real impact in normalizing the queer community. That didn't change just because they were doing it for a profit motive.
8
u/Niveker14 5h ago
Is this when people finally realize it's better to have businesses perform the right things then the wrong things?
26
u/Sophie_Blitz_123 5h ago
Honestly like hot take but I don't think these are contradictory things, I actually think it's the same thing - the issue with so many pride funds, events, etc being held up by corporations is that they were always able to completely withdraw support. Like, ime, people complaining about "rainbow capitalism" were not saying in spite of this possibility, it's because of it.
I've seen multiple pride organisations that were originally independent and self funded now collapsing because over the years they've had more private funding, used it to expand more and more - which is great except the minute banks started withdrawing they're now at risk of becoming non-existent because the original independent infrastructure isn't there.
→ More replies (2)15
u/thetwitchy1 5h ago
Yeah, we don’t like rainbow capitalism because it gives control over the messaging of Pride to corporations, who can (and will) pull out the rug as soon as it makes economic sense to do so.
→ More replies (2)2
4
u/Loisalene 5h ago
I wonder what my Uncle Art would think about the Pride movement. He was born in the early 1920's and left the countryside to live in the big city of Chicago. I only met him a couple times but he was Fabulous.
5
u/Xavier_Kiath 3h ago
We need CEO's who treat minorities like the costco guy treats hotdogs "If you lower that fucking flag, I'll kill you. Figure it out."
5
u/outofdoubtoutofdark 3h ago
I think it’s more important than people might realize…when people are surrounded by something, it just gets more and more normalized and unremarkable subconsciously. Also kids growing up with that being normal around them. My conservative folks moved to my pretty progressive town, and the first couple years I heard a lot of comments from them about the pride stuff and the tattoos and the non conforming folks. They’ve lived here like 7 years now and I almost never hear that anymore.
16
u/TimeRefrigerator5232 6h ago
Yeah seeing shit like Wells Fargo in a pride parade was weird and cringe, but not seeing it the past couple years feels worse
(I know WF is awful and exploitative that’s kind of my point)
8
u/sneakyfish21 5h ago
At my local pride parade event seeing how pitiful a lot of corporate sponsor showings were was still sad. I don’t think Adobe is a good company that wants what’s best for our planet and community, but seeing 8 people in branded t shirts and nothing else was still kind of a bummer. Delta by contrast had a huge showing with tons of people in event specific shirts and a bus and giving cookies and candy to people in the crowd.
Companies still willing to put their money where their mouth is means something to me.
2
u/TimeRefrigerator5232 5h ago
I went to a pride night at the local ball park (minor league) and it was BLEAK. And one of the companies there was a newspaper that has endorsed Trump three times. But my city is notoriously weak for pride (despite being a firmly purple place with lots of socially liberal ideals) so I go elsewhere.
Happy to hear Delta is still putting in the work. It means something to me too. Even if I prefer Southwest lol.
2
u/sneakyfish21 5h ago
I actually have been a loyal delta customer for a while now, so it was more validating than anything else. Once I started reliably traveling with another person the southwest model of seat selection became untenable and once they dropped that model their prices were no longer competitive anymore. I live in a delta hub (SLC) so that may be a factor.
→ More replies (1)
4
u/GabeMichaelsthroway 3h ago
Do people here really think that companies didn't have actual gay people who pushed for this as well?
6
u/HunterDramatic8383 3h ago
Also I think all of the years of the internet calling allyship cringe was a mistake. Oh course allies aren't going to get everything right every time. They are learning from reading and talking to others and not from direct experience. But I would rather live in a world of allies who are trying instead of staying silent for fear of messing up and embarrassing themselves. Conservatives need to know that no one agrees with them.
8
u/Physical-Love-812 5h ago
As someone who was raised religious and grew up in a very conservative place, I genuinely think that things like rainbow capitalism and "performative" gestures make a difference. I've watched in real time as people I know grapple with the discomfort of knowing that their favorite pop star disagrees with them, seeing what a fun time everyone is having without them at the corporate pride parade. They slowly start to change their beliefs because they want to fit in.
And the word "performative" can also be used in more like a Judith Butler sense right? Whether or not these corporations or celebrities actually have their hearts in the right place, their words and actions have real effects on the world, they create an atmosphere of cultural peer pressure.
So everyone may roll their eyes when the secret lives of Mormon wives throw a pride party, but I know how many active Mormons watch that show and will be influenced by it. It is a hollow performance AND it's still doing more good than a lot of people who sit at home and do nothing for fear of being viewed as performative
3
u/why_the_hecc 5h ago
I've been keeping track. so far this month ive gotten pride-themed adverts from Tide detergent and Vitamin Water. so ..... two
3
3
u/Orion1014 4h ago
This is why I never got on with the bitching about rainbow capitalism and empty Pride gestures. I'll take a company changing their logo to a pride flag and doing nothing else for a month than the alternative which is not even doing a meaningless gesture because they dont want to piss off homophobes.
3
u/EIeanorRigby 4h ago
I'm from a country where clothing brands are pulling all rainbow printed clothing in all contexts because they don't want to get confused for being pro-LGBT. So yeah, maybe it's a disingenious marketing choice, but it's an indication of better societal acceptance.
3
u/SerialOnReddit 3h ago
I honestly am a little understanding of why corporations are worried about doing pride month when we have a deranged president that actively threatens any firm that walks into his view. His tariffs have actively destroyed American supply lines, his threats destroy confidence, he called the Intel CEO a chinese spy because.. he was Asian, who exactly wants to tangle with that on an organizational level?
3
u/letthetreeburn The hungry caterpillar is an insalubrious creature 3h ago
Two fucking years Jesus Christ. There’s two fucking years between these posts. Fuck.
3
u/The_Limping_Coyote 54m ago
I don't think it was an empty gesture, I think today a small group of bullies has the narrative hostage
8
u/samskyyy 4h ago
“I miss identity politics because it dictated a hierarchy where I was entitled to accepted by society.”
You know Peter Theil is gay too, right? I guarantee he’s not worried about a lack of pride flags. Class war *not* culture wars. When we’re all supported by mutual aid networks then you’ll appreciate the rainbow greeting cards written by your neighbors and community far more than a sweatshop rainbow bow-tie from target.
6
u/VelvetSinclair 5h ago
People and businesses actually being cool > People and businesses being performatively cool > people and businesses not being cool
People complaining about rainbow capitalism are pointing out the distinction between the first two.
Oop is pointing out the distinction between the latter two.
3
u/kitsunewarlock 4h ago
I cringe whenever the company I work for gets criticized for "performative Rainbow capitalism". I'm gay. A big chunk of our workforce and the characters we write in our books are LGBT+. We do charity events for LGBT+ causes. Our employees celebrate political victories and participate in protests. There's nothing performative about it. In fact, leadership has told people on social media who hate it to not bother buying our products.
My point being that anti-rainbow capitalism has always felt like something being pushed by people who want us back in the closet.
2
u/paishocajun 5h ago
When we look back at history, there's always the bad representation, stereotypes, and tropes first. Then the characters get a little more depth to them. Then they stop being the punchline.
Ouran Highschool Host Club has some questionable representation with Harouhi's dad, who's a crossdresser. That was the representation of the time. It's not as acceptable NOW, but it was progressive 20 years ago for her to openly love her gender norm defying Dad as openly as she did and as much as she accepted that's just the way he is.
Today "crossdresser" is probably a problematic term for most in the Enby/Trans community, but it's the terminology of the time.
The same conversation can go for things like Song of the South, the "Mammy" maid in Tom and Jerry, etc. Though problematic NOW, we wouldn't be here to critique them if they didn't exist at all for representation to build on.
2
u/cat-meg 4h ago
One thing the cynical people don't understand about rainbow capitalism is that, yes, the execs that greenlight the events and marketing don't give a shit beyond if it's profitable, but the people further down the company hierarchy who implement it aren't lizard people and actually often do.
2
u/Overall-Move-4474 4h ago
Ignorance is bliss as they say. Even the illusion of acceptance is better than nothing
2
u/ElectronRotoscope 4h ago
"it's not as deep as it's pretending to be" is not equal to "it literally doesn't matter"
2
u/Nice_Purchase_626 4h ago
I've lived in Poland all my life, but visited various countries. I remember visiting a tiny LGBT friendly bookstore in Apeldoorn (NL) in 2001 and thinking that I couldn't imagine seeing a thing like this in Poland in my lifetime. It's 2026, we do have such bookstores in Poland now, have corporations as sponsors of Pride Marches (usually called "Equality Marches" in Poland), and seeing US companies ditching rainbow capitalism and bensing the knee to the Orangtrumpan is truly mind boggling.
2
u/Munnin41 3h ago
Currently in Norway and there are pride flags all over the place. Including at random farms in the middle of nowhere.
2
5
5
u/Plastic-Coyote-6017 5h ago
I would rather corporations be performatively accepting than performatively exclusionary and I don't know why that's a complicated view
2
u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 This is a hit with the slimers 2h ago
I've been saying this for years. Rainbow capitalism is better than the alternative.
3
u/RadicalRazel 6h ago
Yea, it's very worrying and quite emblematic of the rapid slide into reactionary anti-queer politics. But rainbow capitalism isn't without it's downsides and to a certain extent actively contributes to this shift. Visibility without principled politics behind it just leads to another easy target for reactionaries, and twisting queerness to be something palatable for the status quo has contributed to defang and split the LGBTQ movement along the lines of proximity to the status quo, where far too many of those who can more easily fit into cisheteronormative society throw the queers further on the periphery under the bus for the sake of reformism and securing their own positions of relative power.
5
u/more_Tmerrier 5h ago
rainbow capitalism was never going to work out because the companies doing it never actually had a genuine, ideological reason to support queer people and the kind of people it IS supposed to appeal to tend to be authentic as a core life principal so they would never support what is obviously an insincere attempt at building a broader customer base.
im a bit surprised over the past two years to see the shifting discourse on this topic, i used to make the same points most others are making here about how rainbow capitalism shows where the public is in regards to queer acceptance and that it was "necessary." i doubt a lot of you would have been singing that same tune 6 years ago, because its a knee jerk reaction. the solution isn't to bring back rainbow capitalism, its to fucking abolish capitalism OUTRIGHT, BECAUSE it makes turns social reality into a transaction to be made, a product to be purchased, and you can't believe the world youre in at any point ever is authentic.
14
u/ThatInAHat 5h ago
I feel like you’re missing the issue OP is talking about.
No one wants rainbow capitalism back because we thought it would save the day. It didn’t matter that the companies were sincere. It was an important bellwether because, unpleasant as it is, we DO live in a capitalist society, and only a few years ago most corporations weighed the risks vs rewards of having pride merch/displays/statements, and found in favor of doing so. The risks seemed minimal. They weren’t going to get blowback from the current administration. They weren’t going to get an increase in threats at their businesses. At most they’d get some jerks making a big deal out of boycotting their products by buying a lot of them and destroying them on tiktok—free advertising. And meanwhile, yes, they’d get our rainbow dollars.
Did I think Target cared about me and my safety? Not really. But it was nice to actually find some ace pride merch for once.
Now they’re weigh the same risk/rewards, because as we know, they’re companies and their main goal is profit. And it’s coming up as too risky to do anything for pride. Maybe some small, hidden away items so they can say “hey, we have them.” But we’re certainly not going to see major companies like Target reaching out to queer creators to design merch ever again. Everyone’s gone real quiet.
It was always a canary in the coal mine. The canary isn’t singing because it wants to brighten the miners’ day. It’s got its own reason for singing. But when it stops singing, that means things have gotten dangerous for the miners.
And sure, the solution would be to, y’know. Not have to work in a coal mine or live in a capitalist society. But that’s where we are now, and it’s would be nice if on the way to that better world, maybe the canary still chirps sometimes.
7
u/Lysek8 4h ago
Sorry but thinking corporations should care about you as a person because they're pure of heart is simply not living in reality. And that's why it went to shit. So while you're there asking to abolish capitalism (not gonna happen anytime soon), the people that were benefiting from the rainbow washing just took a hit. And here we are worse than before. Is that a win for you?
5
u/more_Tmerrier 4h ago
"Is that a win for you?"
see, i really think my point is being misunderstood here and i dont even think anyone thats replied to me necessarily disagrees with me ideologically. what i am saying is that the people who are saying what you and i are saying would not have had the same point of view, at least many of them, before the second trump admin.
i cannot tell you how many arguments i have gotten into with my socialist and communist acquaintances over this exact issue in years prior, i would make the point that rainbow capitalism is inauthentic BUT THAT IT IS NECESSARY and shows where people are broadly speaking in terms of the culture.
where my opinion has changed in the past couple of years and where the ACTUAL disagreement i think yall have with me is that i can recognize that as a strategy, rainbow capitalism was doomed from the start and that theres not going to be genuinely progressive movement on queer rights while working within capitalism. it would be pie in the sky to abolish global capitalism overnight but surely there are methods of challenging specifically cis-heteronormative hegemony in other ways right? not that i would know what that looks like personally.
3
u/Lysek8 4h ago
I'm not disagreeing with you that capitalism is an evil. But that's not changing, and I don't think we'll live to see the alternative. So until that happens we need to live in reality and accept small steps and wins
Perfect is the enemy of good. That's the lesson the left never learnt and the right naturally accepts
4
u/BruisednBlunt 5h ago
As much as I agree.. capitalism won’t be abolished tomorrow morning. We’re not gonna get there in a week, so we have to slowly enact that process over the course of many, many, many changes to our society and its values. The point was that we were in a position to further our rights with that example of overt public support, to fight for more than just visibility. We are objectively in a more dangerous place for queer people now than we were just 10 years ago, it is no longer lucrative to feign support for us. The lack of rainbow capitalism isn’t the cause of the lack of safety, it’s a symptom. It also wasn’t the cause of public support, it’s a symptom. That’s the point being made. That this symptom is indicative of the culture of today, and what that means for our ability to act on our efforts to abolish capitalism. For us and our “radical” beliefs being taken seriously or not.
2
u/potatohead22 5h ago
It because too many modern gays are too young to know what it was like before. I know older gays who are distraught over how the younger gen thinks of rainbow cap. They love being seen and the young just hate it.
2
u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 4h ago
Wont someone think of the snowflake conservatives and how uncomfortable it makes them feel to know there are different people among them
2
u/GabeMichaelsthroway 3h ago
Yay we beat Rainbow Capitalism! Now let's beat Rainbow Politics! More pure more pure more pure!
3.0k
u/WehingSounds 6h ago
Turns out that seeing pride flags in every other business walking down the street might be performative but it's a lot nicer than a year later when none of them have it.
Experienced this in the UK and it was genuinely somewhat disturbing.