Conservative backlash has strained the relationship between LGBTQ+ community and corporations during Pride month, causing brands to be hesitant in showing support. 📷: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
All of which has led some LGBTQ+ consumers and creators to reassess which corporations really supported their rights, and which were just engaged in rainbow capitalism, looking to profit from selling Pride merchandise without actively supporting the community.
It’s also left some of Pride capitalism’s most vocal—and hilarious—critics at a similar crossroads: continue to critique brands that have stuck by the queer community or change their tactics. Over the course of the last few years, a number of TikTokers have built up followings by ridiculing big brands’ Pride merchandise, mocking their attempts at profiting from the LGBTQ+ community. This year, they’ve found themselves doing the same, but with far more factors in mind.
“I don’t want people to view this as me being critical of Pride merch in general because someone who is right-wing could use my videos as fuel for their own agenda and be like, ‘Look at this queer person, she clearly doesn’t care about Pride merch,’” West says. “Internally, I am afraid that someone who doesn’t want me or people like me to exist will think I agree with them when I don’t.”
This has already sort of happened. Last year, TikTok flagged some of West’s videos as hate speech and removed them. “I guess their system thought, ‘You’re making fun of gay people’ but I was like: I am a gay people! I don’t know what you want from me!” she says. As a result, she has been more careful with her wording in videos this year, hoping not to fall foul of the app’s automatic moderation systems.
Still, despite these worries, West says, “I still definitely am critical of corporate Pride” . In recent videos, she has reviewed Target, Hot Topic, and Amazon Pride merch, collating what she believes to be the worst examples. She doesn’t feel the need to express gratitude to these companies simply because they’re still selling merch.
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