This 12 months, Pride Month saw a marked decrease in ad spending and company engagement with the LGBTQ+ community. It can be easy to see this as a loss for that community, which needed to scramble as corporations canceled sponsorships of Pride Parades and similar events. It would even be unsuitable. The losers are the brands that lost their credibility with consumers of all political persuasions.
The decreased ad spend is a component of a trend that began in 2023. That 12 months, Bud Light’s sponsorship of transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked possibly probably the most successful product boycott in U.S. history, one which ended its decades-long run because the nation’s best-selling beer.
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Furthermore, Gravity Research’s 2025 Pride Pulse Poll, conducted in late March, found:
- 39% of brand name executives planned to scale back their spending on Pride-related marketing, in comparison with 9% in 2024.
- 37% of respondents said they plan to diminish their sponsorships of external Pride events, like festivals.
- No respondents planned to extend spending in the world.
The Bud Light boycott wasn’t the first reason for these decisions. Almost two-thirds (61%) of the executives surveyed modified their Pride marketing strategies due to actions by the Trump administration.
Pride-related marketing was cut bigly
Numbers from June show the scope of those changes.
An evaluation of social media content and ad campaigns over the past twelve months by influencer marketing firm Buzzoole found a 21% decrease in content related to diversity and inclusion in comparison with the previous 12 months. During Pride Month, content posted between June 1 and 18 fell 43% in comparison with the identical period in 2024, with ADV volumes declining by 49%.
Last month, the variety of U.S. brands publishing Pride-related hashtags on Facebook dropped by greater than half from last 12 months, in response to Emplifi.
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The LGBTQ+ community, like several marginalized group, is hypervigilant about representation in all types of media. They are willing to boycott brands that withdraw support, with 80% able to take motion against brands that retreat, in response to a Pew survey.
They are understandably suspicious of brands’ motivations for including cultural holidays in promoting, especially if it only happens during Pride Month or feeds into stereotypes. The Pew survey found that 68% of LGBTQ+ adults (and 54% of straight/cis adults) imagine Pride marketing is “mainly for profit.”
Brands aren’t fooling consumers
“Consumers are sensitive and aware of firms using greenwashing, pridewashing, pinkwashing and using diversity, equity and inclusion to further their brand in marketing,” said Nicole Kyle, managing director and co-founder of CMP Research. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise. Consumers are more informed now than they’ve ever been.”
That’s bad for fair-weather brands but good for those that stick around through tough times. Emplifi’s research found that engagement with brands’ Pride-related Facebook posts greater than doubled in comparison with 2024, they usually had more engagement than within the previous three years.
Being inconsistent on vital issues hurts brands with the community they were pandering to—it hurts them with everybody. Research by Australia’s University of New South Wales found liberal and conservative consumers dislike brands that appear inauthentic or opportunistic of their political stances. That’s true no matter whether or not they agree or disagree with the brand’s latest or old stance.
Just take a look at what is going on to Target. It was a reliable sponsor of Pride and spotlighted products from Black-owned firms during Black History Month for years. So, you may imagine consumers’ surprise when, on January twenty fourth — 4 days after President Trump’s second inauguration — CEO Brian Cornell very loudly announced he was disposing of DEI initiatives. Since then, the corporate’s stock has fallen 26%, from 142.5 to 102, it has slashed its earnings outlook for the remaining of the 12 months and store foot traffic has declined monthly.
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