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In majority of campaigns with LGBTQ+ themes, profit comes first
The participants of this month’s #VoxPopuli survey perceived campaigns dedicated to LGBTQ+ topics more as socially – responsible, rather than commercial. However, when it comes to their goals, they give a slight advantage to profit over real changes in society.
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3 min to read
Written by:
Nataša Blagojević
There are many problems that the LGBTQ+ community faces on a daily basis, just like there are many examples of companies and brands that have become part of the conversation on this topic through their communication activities. Earlier this month we wrote about Pride Month and corporate activism as well as “rainbow capitalism”, and we also addressed these topics in this month’s Dialog #VoxPopuli poll.
The majority of survey participants know what Pride Month is (74%) and have noticed at least one campaign or brand that supported this initiative (60%). At the same time, none of these campaigns were local. Regarding the nature of the campaigns, they observed and their character, experiences and opinions are quite divided – while 43% of the participants believe that they were predominantly commercial in nature, 57% perceived them as socially responsible. The results related to the question of how familiar the survey participants are with the term “rainbow capitalism” show similarly. A relatively high 42% of participants do not know what it represents.
Profit is slightly more important than real change in society
Although a high 86% believe that campaigns during “Pride Month” can positively influence the position of the LGBTQ+ community, when it comes to the goals of campaigns dealing with LGBTQ+ topics, they give a slight advantage to profit over real changes in society (53% vs. 47%). Relatedly, it’s no surprise that 89% of them believe that campaigns supporting the LGBTQ+ community can increase sales. Nevertheless, such campaigns influenced half of the participants in our survey, specifically encouraging them to buy the products or services of the companies behind these campaigns.
When it comes to consumer decisions, the survey shows that participants in our #VoxPopuli poll are pretty strong in their beliefs. Namely, if a company or brand declared that they do not support the LGBTQ+ community, 69% of them would stop buying their products or paying for their services. If they declared that they supported it, 83% of the participants would not stop being their customers.
Domestic companies and brands should engage more
Among the examples of companies that communicate LGBTQ+ topics in a good way, the majority of responses included Ikea company which is also engaged locally in this matter, not only globally. When it comes to domestic companies and brands, the participants of our poll said that they should be more engaged (74%). When we asked them what is the biggest obstacle for domestic companies to support the LGBTQ+ community, a small majority voted for reputational risk (56%) compared to management conservatism (44%).
There is clearly room for Croatian brands and companies to engage with the LGBTQ+ community and topics relevant to it and the whole society. Motivation for future changes and bolder strides in communication can be positive publicity, which is considered by 61% of participants, or sales growth, which is considered by 39% of them.
