Miss Peppermint on 5 ways brands can do better with the LGBTQ+ community

Ad Age is marking Pride Month 2024 with our Honoring Creative Excellence package, for which we asked members of the LGBTQ+ creative community to write about pivotal projects or turning points in their careers. (Read the introduction and all the essays here.) Today, guest editor Rana Reeves turns the spotlight to Miss Peppermint, drag entertainer and performer, singer, songwriter, TV personality and activist for the LGBTQ+ community, who writes about a new blueprint for brands working with that community. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs 2023 was a bad year for inclusivity, but not for the reason you think. It gave us a blueprint of what not to do. We learned diversity and inclusion can’t be transactional and superficial. The LGBTQ+ community has had a tokenized, one-sided relationship with the mainstream media for the last two decades. This is something that resonates back to the 1980s, when thousands of creatives, artists and luminaries were lost to the AIDS epidemic while our elected officials completely ignored what was happening. Sadly, these traits mirror relationships that many LGBTQ+ people have experienced in one way or another. As a result, we have become increasingly fed up with those who dealt with us as though we are not worthy of the same visibility, respect and money as any other personality, actor, activist, reality star or influencer who’s not in the LGBTQ+ community. We have been teaching you and guiding you throughout the years—even though many brands are terrified to even communicate with us outside of the month of June. LGBTQ+ people are not seasonal. We are living and thriving all year, and we exist everywhere. The 2024 blueprint asks you to have an understanding of not only your audience but your potential partners—the queer community at large. Here are five ways to do better: Understand the community and its differences. Understand not only what the community at large likes, but also what it wants and needs. Understand how some of those things can be at odds with each other and that different people in the community need and want different things. Explore intersections. The LGBTQ+ community is unique because it is also simultaneously part of every other community: every race, every gender, every sex, every nationality, every religion and even every political affiliation. Every demographic that exists in human beings contains people from the LGBTQ+ community. Be accountable. Understand that if you decide to partner with us, we will hold you to account. We will expect you to stand by us when those who care to attack us view our relationship as an easy target. Slow but steady. Brands have previously taken the “Let’s surprise them with the ad campaign” approach, with no lead-up, no cultivating of relationships, just “Surprise, we’ve got an influencer!” with no conversation. It doesn’t work. To really do the work, it needs to be a slow build that involves supporting and uplifting the community more than a one-off moment. Research and apply it. Ensure you know the audience by researching as much as you can, make sure you have representation in the team—and if you don’t, hire them in. You can’t demand loyalty from something you know nothing about, so get invested. Brands have a chance at a new shot in 2024, and from what we learned about inclusivity back in 2020, the blueprint is looking very promising. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

Miss Peppermint on 5 ways brands can do better with the LGBTQ+ community

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