We all love pride month, right?
A chance to celebrate who we are in a safe, happy environment.
But that's just the problem. It's safe. Not for us, but for companies who profit off selling merchandise for pride. Every year massive corporations take a rainbow paintbrush, and splash it all over their particular brand of capitalism. They see us as an opportunity. An untapped market, ready to lap up and buy everything we see with a rainbow on it. I’ll admit, I’m guilty of this myself, if I see a pair of rainbow Doctor Martens, or Converse with the trans pride flag, you know damn well I’m getting them. Cos it's cool. But it's important to remember what I said earlier, in the eyes of the corporations, our identity is a product, and they’re only producing this merchandise and supporting the LGBT+ community because it’s convenient and profitable for them to do so.
It cost £80 to attend the official Manchester Pride festival last year, which is against the very core elements of pride, that it was set up for all of us within the LGBT+ community to access and attend, regardless of their socioeconomic status. I’ll repeat that again, if it didn’t quite sink in; THEY CHARGED US ALMOST ONE HUNDRED POUNDS, IN ORDER FOR US TO ATTEND AN EVENT WHERE WE CAN CELEBRATE WHO WE ARE.
Do you think that if we weren’t as commonly accepted in mainstream society as we are today, that Absolut would still sell a bottle of vodka painted in a pride rainbow, or say they support the LGBT+ community? Of course they wouldn’t.
Actually, that brings me onto another point which really grinds my gears: when alcohol companies participate in rainbow capitalism. As a community, we’re already more likely to suffer from mental health issues than the majority, as well as also being more likely to succumb to substance dependencies. So these companies, with their rainbow bottles, or their pride flag cups, or whatever skin they’ve taken to market their product, are preying on an already at-risk group, trying to sell our struggles, our lives, our identities, back to us at a premium, which honestly, I find abhorrent. Last year, Budweiser donated £1 from every sale of their pride beakers to the LGBT+ Charity Stonewall. Except they didn’t. They put a cap on that, saying the maximum amount they would donate was £100,000. Because obviously, a brand with a USD$7.6 BILLION value can’t let their support for us cut into their massive profit overheads, can they?
Don’t buy the £15 mass produced pride flag from amazon, buy some coloured fabric & a sewing machine and make one yourself. Or buy one from an LGBT+ creator.
Buy a plain white pair of trainers, then draw the trans flag on them yourself with fabric markers.
Buy a bottle of the cheap no-name own brand gin, then slap some paint on it.
STOP SUPPORTING COMPANIES THAT TRY TO SELL US OUR OWN IDENTITY.
By Amelya-Lily Orme
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