Companies Are Celebrating Pride Month — But, Not Gay Arabs.
By: Nathan Matsko
Photo by Jasmin Sessler
State College — As the world’s LGBTQ+ community comes together to celebrate Pride Month, companies which market towards the community are facing controversy.
Gaming publisher Bethesda has seen intense backlash since the beginning of June after the company selectively changed the logo of its social media accounts to a version replicating the pride flag.
A tweet that went viral shows that nearly all of the company’s localized accounts had changed their logos—except the company’s Middle East page.
Replies to the tweet would reveal that the company’s Russian page also did not make the switch.
The Fallout and Elder Scrolls publisher is not unique in this practice. It is commonplace for companies with global reach to show their support in places where LGBTQ+ are, at least generally, accepted. It is less common, however, for them to show that same support in countries like Russia or Egypt.
Arguments have been made that it would be a poor business decision to do anything differently. In places where homosexuality is punishable by law, and public opinion is generally opposed to same-sex relationships, Pro-LGBTQ+ marketing can be harmful to a brand.
These disparities do not end on social media. When searching ‘Pride’ on Adidas’s US website, a potential customer will be instantly directed to the brand’s 2020 Pride collection, featuring rainbow imagery and slogans such as “Love Unites”.
However, by switching over to the Bahrainian version of the website, a search for pride yields zero results related to the LGBTQ+ celebrations.