(NewsNation) — Don’t blame, or credit, conservatives for some major corporations dialing down their Pride Month promotions. Blame economic reality and some firms going a bit overboard in the past, according to one CEO.
“I think Pride may have finally jumped the shark — at least the corporate version,” said Jennifer Sey, former brand president of Levi Strauss, now the founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics. “It just started to go a little crazy, and get a little weird,” she told NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live.”
Many companies felt the wrath of the right last year, most notably Bud Light over its partnership with TikTok transgender celebrity Dylan Mulvaney. Target, The North Face, Nike and even the U.S. Navy have eliminated or lowered the profile of their Pride Month efforts.
Sey says it was never about the rainbow; it was all about the green.
“It’s a strategy to make money. It’s not values-led. They don’t care about values. They don’t care about LGBTQ, not to any real extent. They care about making money, and when those campaigns stop doing that, they’re going to stop doing it.”
Still, there are companies that have continued to go all-in during Pride Month, often pairing promotions with donations.
- Calvin Klein’s “This Is Love” campaign includes nearly a quarter million dollars in donations to charities dedicated to LGBTQ+ equity and safety
- Versace is donating 10% of the purchase price of its Pride collection to the Elton John AIDS Foundation
- Levi’s is donating $100,000 to Outright International, which supports LGBTQ+ people around the world
- Macy’s continues its longtime support for The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, with lifetime contributions topping $6 million
On the other hand, Sey says many people just want to shop.
“It’s been positioned as this far-right pushback, but I don’t think that’s what it really is. I think it’s just regular moms, and they want to go to Target, and they want to buy their laundry detergent and kids’ clothes, and they don’t necessarily want to be confronted with that.”
And, she says, corporate “values” campaigns aren’t always about Pride.
“Did anybody really believe that Doritos cared about elevating Black voices? I don’t think so. Doritos is stoner food for guys playing video games.”
The answer, says Sey, is for companies to focus on why they’re in business.
“Companies need to deliver a great product, marketed and tailored to that consumer, and stop with all this nonsense.”
