Last year, despite decades of progress, Pride felt both regressive and more divisive than it has in years, as major brands faced boycotts for their campaigns and—in a few cases—their responses seemed to cause more damage than the controversy itself. 

The Human Rights Campaign suspended Bud Light’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index score after the brand backpedaled on its collaboration with TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney. Target reacted to customer backlash by pulling LGBTQ+-themed merchandise, and was accused of “rainbow capitalism” as a result. 

At a time when values are intensely scrutinized and social media outrage is instantaneous, such short-term reactions can have long-lasting impact on brands if they’re not handled carefully. 

The solution isn’t hiding from the moment. For brands planning their Pride approach this year, the following four principles will help them show up for their audiences in authentic ways. 

Embrace emotion and nuance

Authenticity is one of the fastest ways to protect yourself from cancellation. Consistency is another. To build both, it’s essential that brands speak in the lexicon of the community they’re trying to reach. Remember, Pride is about the queer community for the queer community by the queer community.  Apply the same rigor as you would for Black History Month and other heritage months to what is appropriate. 

Ask community members, organizations and specific influencers how they would communicate your values and activity to their audiences. Also learn how they speak about themselves. Just because influencers are part of a community doesn’t mean their tone or point of view is right for the activity you plan. Find out what is important and relevant to them, and how they can help support the LGBTQ+ community. Rather than a top-down approach, build from the ground up and have an applicable connection to your brand’s values.

Influencer-led content is more emotive because it’s more personal. Consumers aren’t getting your message from an actor, but from someone more relatable. This comes with perceived risks. People speak more from the heart on influencer channels, and this can cause brand fear. But brands need to embrace emotion and nuance during Pride. The more you can prioritize platforming personal experience over allyship, the more authentic your campaign will feel. 

Focus on abundance and hope

One of the best ways brands can engage with their audience during Pride is to focus on the positives of the LGBTQ+ experience. 

Although these communities are facing threats and oppression, they don’t need to be reminded of it.  It’s their lived experience. Focusing on trauma may get you clicks, but for communities in regular turmoil, all they’ll feel is the negative impact and you won’t build loyalty or reach. During Pride, appropriate representation matters.

Showcase queer people for how vibrant their lives can be. Amplification of the potential, abundance and joy of their lives is the right kind of representation. The community is seeking reassurance that there’s hope and light at the end of the tunnel as opposed to more negative energy. This message should be tied to concrete actions on how you as a brand are working toward that vision in tangible and measurable ways.

Protect everyday folks 

If you’re working with everyday folks to build authenticity, it’s important to build empathy into your approach. 

You have to prioritize their physical and mental safety. That protection can come in different forms, whether it’s explaining the scale of the campaign before it begins, or not tagging them in social media when it’s live. 

Have they come out to family, friends or colleagues? If a campaign is going to have them in shop windows across the U.S., you need to make sure they’re comfortable with that. Something that sounds good to them on a private photoshoot might feel differently when they’re driving past a giant billboard. 

Brands have a duty to take care of people they work with, especially around the potential consequences of public exposure. There’s the risk of increasing homophobia, transphobia and queer hate, and community participants need to be prepared for tha

Defend your message

While brands might opt out of celebrating this year’s Pride, for fear of rocking the boat or being canceled, but Pride can be an opportunity to steer your brand forward. 

There’s so much noise, polarization and fear in our culture that brands can easily get lost in the chaos. But online chatter isn’t necessarily reflective of reality. 

When The North Face teamed up with drag performer Pattie Gonia to create a short ad for its second annual Summer of Pride tour in 2023, conservatives called for a boycott. The brand doubled down, defended its plans and created successful events across the country.

Attacks can feel big, but they’re usually from very few people. The fear is almost always worse than the consequences unless the product itself is faulty. Focus on the message, live up to your values, and your audience will follow you through the storm. 

Pride 2023 was a minefield of controversy for multiple brands and marketers, and 2024 looks primed to be even more heated. But if brands lead campaigns with empathy by working with influencers and everyday folks with a sense of positivity, responsibility and care—while consistently sticking to their core values—they’ll not only be authentic to their audiences but also to themselves.