RAINBOW CAPITALISM
Chidambara Agrawal
With all the relief and rapture over the Supreme Court’s recent
historic judgement decriminalizing gay sex, here are a few
questions:
Did you notice Uber’s rainbow coloured route map symbolic of
gay pride? Did you come across Netflix’s message: “Today’s a
good day. #LoveisLove.” while binge watching your favourite
sitcoms? Did you notice how quick other brands like Flipkart,
Nykaa, Swiggy, IndiGo, Discovery Networks were to get into the
euphoric mood of the moment and display their support for
PRIDE through their brand logos.
And if you have, are you aware that it might just be the latest
stage in an awkward history of corporate “pink washing”?
Rainbow capitalism (also called pink capitalism or gay
capitalism) is a term used to describe, from a critical
perspective, the incorporation of the LGBT movement and
sexual diversity to capitalism and the market economy;
especially as this incorporation pertains to the gay, cisgender,
western, white, and upper middle class communities and
market.
It helps products or the image of a company appear gay-friendly
to showcase progressiveness and tolerance of the company to
get LGBT+ consumers disregarding other factors such as class,
gender, race, etc. This creates a false sense of security and
claims that equality is here through the incorporation of rainbow
wrappers.
Rise of the pink economy
In the early days, advertising in LGBT media was largely
restricted to LGBT organisations, and LGBT-owned businesses
directly targeting the community. It was the 1990s which saw a
genuine turnaround. Advertisers openly hailed the “Dream
Market” of urban, well-educated, double-income gay and
lesbian couples. Yet, there was still a palpable fear of broader
public attitudes towards LGBT issues, with few advertisers
trying to openly depict LGBT storylines in their advertising
directed at mainstream customers.
Following successes by targeting the LGBT market directly,
some marketers also made bold steps out of the ghetto – and
started to use gay themes in advertising targeted mostly at a non-
gay audience. A first came in 1994. Playing on the stereotype of
the worldly, urban gay male couple, equipped with a superior
sense of style and fashion, IKEA showcased a same-sex couple
choosing furniture at the store. The advert was widely celebrated
by gay groups, with only fringe voices raising concerns about
the stereotypical depiction of the gay characters.
Taking a lead from the popularity of “LGBT inclusive”
television programmes such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,
big marketers have recently come out of the closet in India:
Starbucks tweeted its tagline to “Pride in every cup”. Uber
donned the gay pride colours along with a tagline “#Move
Forward, ride with #Pride!”. Brands lit up with their own
diversity message, flooding social media with their witty one-
liners, tongue-in-cheek humour and hashtags in support of the
verdict.
Their association with the LGBT equality message might
genuinely reflect a desire to become more inclusive and open,
but the suspicion will be that they are indulging in a bit of low-
cost “pink washing” to soften the edges of some spiky
reputational damage. Companies need to do more than just
depict a gay guy, or a lesbian couple, or adorn their products
with the rainbow flag – hiring queer people, especially queer
POC, transgender and disabled individuals, and ultimately
deriving away from capitalistic approaches that create inequality
the companies project to oppose would show fully-realized
allyship – especially when faced with increasingly
knowledgeable, and cynical, consumers who hopefully can see
through a touch of pink sparkle. And as for members of the
LGBT+ community, while a store filled with rainbows and
“love” may feel safe, be cautious of who and what is behind the
“support and acceptance”. This capitalism is currently
everywhere, and unlike vocally homophobic companies,
pinkwashed companies are silently anti-you in a systematic and
unseen way. The impact of this oppression is so subliminal that
it can happen before you even realize.
