For LGBT Pride Month, many global companies have replaced their logos on Twitter with substitutes sporting the colors of the Pride Flag – but now some are called upon to show their support in the West, but not elsewhere.
Brands like Pfizer, Cisco, General Electric, Mercedes-Benz, Vogue and Bethesda changed their logos on their flagship Twitter profiles, but made no changes to accounts targeting Middle Eastern markets.
For example, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer changed its logo in markets such as America, Mexico and Canada, but kept it on its profile in Saudi Arabia.
The trend of companies signaling their allegiance to members of the LGBT community by simply revising their logos on social media gained traction around 2015, Vox signaledbut has declined in recent years.
Multinationals are challenged to show their support in the West, but not elsewhere. Pictured is Pfizer’s Pride logo displayed on its Twitter profile
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer changed its logo in markets including America, Mexico and Canada, but kept it on its profile in Saudi Arabia
Vogue magazine had a multicolored Pride logo on its main profile, which has nearly 17 million followers, along with various other Vogue accounts like Vogue Runway, British Vogue, Vogue India, Vogue Japan and Vogue Thailand, which has just 24 000 subscribers.
But a simple black and gold logo remained on the Vogue Arabia page, which has around 26,000 followers.
Some users targeted Vogue Arabia when responding to a tweet posted on June 2.
‘Hey guys, you forgot to change your avatar to reflect Pride. Weird you missed the memo considering all the other Vogue accounts all have Pride profile pictures,’ one person wrote.
The choice to express solidarity in some markets but not others has been widely used as a basis for challenging the sincerity of these seemingly progressive gestures.
Eli David, an Israeli artificial intelligence developer, was one of the first to point out the hypocrisy via his own Twitter profile.
“Big companies are running out of ink on their Middle East pages,” he wrote on Saturday. ‘What could be the reason?’
“Profit before actual pride,” one Twitter user wrote in response.
Vogue’s main Twitter profile (left), along with a number of others including Vogue Runway, British Vogue, Vogue India, Vogue Japan and Vogue Thailand, have been converted into a colorful logo. A simple black and gold logo remained on the Vogue Arabia page (right), which has around 26,000 followers
General Electric displayed its imposed logo atop a rainbow flag
By comparison, on General Electric’s page dedicated to the Saudi market, no such gesture was made.
Others have blamed the trend on financial institutions like BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, which has been accused of using its huge majority stake in various companies to advance specific social agendas.
“All western companies have absolutely no sympathy or loyalty to transgender ideology,” another user wrote. “They wear the colors of pride ONLY because Blackrock owns their soul.”
“Always optics… never about conviction,” said another. “If only they had the integrity… but at least their complacency (and also the ESG issue they submit to), we know where the values of these companies lie.”
BlackRock is one company that changed its Twitter logo on several company profiles this year, although it does not have a Twitter profile for Middle Eastern markets.
German automakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz were two of the most striking companies to make the political statement on one Twitter profile and not the other.
The Mercedes logo has been replaced with a brightly colored equivalent of the Pride flag.
It was also noted that US multinational communications company Cisco had approached Pride month on one profile, but not on another targeting the Middle East market.
It was worth noting that although the main profile image of the Cisco Middle East account was not changed, it featured a colorful banner image with the flagship account, which read: “Powering an Inclusive Future for All”
The Mercedes logo was replaced with an equivalent featuring the bright colors of the Pride flag on the main profile (left) but in the Middle East (right) its logo remained unchanged
Cisco has changed its iconic radio wave logo to feature Pride’s bold colors
It was worth noting that although the main profile image of the Cisco Middle East account was not changed, it featured a colorful banner image with the flagship account, which read: “Powering an Inclusive Future for All”
Video game developer Bethesda tweeted June 2 recognizing Pride Month. The Bethesda Middle East account (right) did not address the occasion at all or change its logo
Video game developer Bethesda tweeted June 2 acknowledging Pride Month, but its Middle East account didn’t address the occasion at all or change its logo.
One company that has been singled out in the past is Lenovo, the Chinese-American IT company. But this year, the company apparently chose not to celebrate Pride month at all, even keeping its regular red logo on its main profile.
In recent years, the prevalence of the trend of companies changing their logos to more colorful variants during Pride month seems to have waned.
An article published by CNN noted how a changing climate for business in America is forcing them to think twice about decisions that might once seem obvious.
“Companies have long embraced Pride Month in June as a simple way to market to members of the LGBTQ+ community while telegraphing progressive values,” CNN’s Danielle Wiener-Bronner wrote.
“This year won’t be that easy,” she added.
In recent months, Bud Light and Target were among a handful of companies that found themselves at the center of controversy over LGBT-friendly marketing campaigns that were attacked by conservatives.
These marketing strategies have been costly, costing their market capitalizations billions.
As a result, companies “are getting a lot more skittish about taking those positions and making strong statements,” Daniel Korschun, an associate professor of marketing at Drexel University, told CNN.
“The pendulum is swinging back a bit…towards a more conservative approach, where they will be less vocal.”
