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For brands across the board, June is looking a little different this year. With many still feeling the backlash from last year’s pride celebrations and fearing further criticism for possible rainbow-washing, we’ve entered an unusually quiet month on the marketing front. Regardless of industry, however, some continue to use their voice to support LGBTQ+ communities.
True brand allies make a commitment that lasts throughout every month of the year — not just marketing-worthy holidays and observances. To take your support to the next level, have a look at what three brand leaders are doing this year to make Pride count.
Skittles Continues to Tap the LGBTQ+ Community
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Campaign Tagline
“When you find your community, your colors shine.”
Why Skittles Stands Out
Controversy or not, year after year Skittles steps up for what’s right with authentic campaigns that celebrate what Pride is all about. From whiting out their own rainbow to highlight Pride to partnering with queer artists on reimagined packaging illustrations, the team always comes up with meaningful ways to bring attention to LGBTQ+ people and communities. And by donating $1 to GLAAD for every pack sold (plus matching any donations up to $25k), the brand partner of five years and counting makes sure their commitment goes far beyond the campaign.
2024 Pride Campaign Details
For 2024, Skittles has once again released a limited edition Pride pack, now designed by female and minority-owned production company, NERD Productions. But this year, they’re doing even more.
In a first for the brand, Skittles teamed up with community-building platform Meetup to create an online hub for a wide range of queer-centered groups, resources, and events around the country. The Skittles LGBTQ+ Directory is an easy-to-use platform where all kinds of folks can find the like-minded friends they’re looking for — no matter what their interests may be.
And beyond June? Skittles is also sponsoring five local LGBTQ+ groups focused on hobbies like music, movies, bird-watching, roller derby, and gaming in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, and California to shine a light on their members, mission, and the value they bring to their communities.
Ally Insight
We know the LGBTQ+ community is one that is comprised of strong, dynamic individuals with a wide array of interests and passions.
— Gabrielle Wesley, CMO, Mars Wrigley North America.
“Our SKITTLES Pride pack and community celebrations are intended to inspire moments of everyday happiness by celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in a way that lets all unique colors shine.”
MAC Cosmetics Marks 30 Years of Viva Glam
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Campaign Tagline
“Put your money where your mouth is.”
Why MAC Stands Out
The LGBTQ+ community has been part of MAC’s DNA since it launched back in the ’80s — right when the AIDS epidemic began to wreak havoc. To raise funds and help spread awareness, in 1994 founders Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo came up with Viva Glam, an annual campaign that’s donated over $520 million via the MAC AIDS Fund since its start in 1994 — each dollar coming directly from the dedicated lipstick sales and serving people impacted by HIV/AIDS.
2024 Pride Campaign Details
As many brands take a step back from working with trans creators this year, MAC’s choice to partner with transgender pop icon Kim Petras is all the more meaningful. Along with entertainer Danna Paola, a long-time supporter of the LBGBTQ+ community, the ambassadors are part of an expanded commitment, “now centered around driving equality for everyone while continuing our longstanding support for people impacted by HIV/AIDS.”
In addition to sexual equality, gender, racial, and environmental advocacy efforts are also part of the mission now — each with its own special lipstick shade and accompanying financial funnel, 100% of whose proceeds go to the cause.
Featuring a focus on bodily autonomy, anti-racism efforts, recycling and waste collection activities, and more, with Viva Heart, Viva Empowered, Viva Equality, and Viva Planet, Viva Glam is making much-needed space for every kind of life, identity, and sexual orientation — and that’s hotter than any makeup look.
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Ally Insight
“Since MAC was founded, we have stood for something simple: All Ages, All Races, All Genders,” says Aïda Moudachirou-Rébois, Senior Vice President and Global General Manager. And to make sure the work continues beyond June, MAC artists, spokespeople, and others involved in the Viva Glam campaign “help promote and sell the lipstick in stores all-year round, walk proudly with our community during Pride and AIDS walks, volunteer with our charitable partners all over the world, and speak out about the MAC causes that matter most to their local communities.”
The CDC Foundation Vogues for Vaccines
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Campaign Tagline
“Family comes first.”
Why the CDCF Stands Out
As an independent global nonprofit, the CDC Foundation (CDCF) works to bolster public health and safety efforts from the CDC and beyond with a range of helpful content, resources, and programming. Focusing on fundraising, awareness campaigns, and public-private partnerships, the organization aims to address critical issues like emergency preparedness, disease prevention, and health equity. By using data-driven insights and fostering public engagement, initiatives like the National Institute of Health’s All of Us, which advocates for inclusivity in health research, have been particularly impactful.
2024 Pride Campaign Details
This spring, the CDCF has turned its attention to another pressing health concern for the LGBTQ+ community: the spread of mpox, also known as monkeypox. In an attempt to prevent a resurgence of the virus by increasing vaccine confidence and community immunity, last summer the Foundation created a request for project proposals from community-based organizations (CBOs). Among the results came a stand-out educational campaign from ballroom legends Jack Mizrahi and Dashaun Wesley.
“The house ballroom community is a vibrant creative home for predominantly Black and brown queer people,” Mizrahi explains.
We are a chosen family for a broad cross-section of the LGBQTIA+ community.
To protect that family, the creators combined the art of voguing with an authentic personal narrative driving a double message: reminding folx to get their vaccine as well as informing them of the fact that it requires two doses, not one. A follow-up video features Wesley (who worked in public health before his ballroom days) in a more one-on-one, Q&A setting to get deeper into facts and issues surrounding the virus.
Ally Insight
Mizrahi credits the campaign’s success to the CDCF’s commitment to an “equitable, culture-first approach,” which is evident in the very first section of their original request, which sought “CBOs, especially those led by people from racial and ethnic minority groups with lived experience and an understanding of the communities in which they work, are vital to building local capacity, fostering collaboration, and creating feelings of ownership.”
“The foundation came to me with a desire to use the power and excitement of Vogue to tell the story of the need for the vaccine,” Mizrahi says. “From end to end they allowed us to engage the community to generate the work — not just the star of the campaign but the director, the script, the styling, the choreo, the glam, the music, the production, all led by us.”
Bottom line? For the best results “when working with queer creativity,” Mizrahi advises marketers to “push yourselves and your agencies to understand the provenance of the culture and prove your values by not just featuring our culture but us, too, in all aspects of the creative process.”
