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The Great Rainbow-Washing Round-Up

By Chris Revelle | Lists | June 6, 2023 |

By Chris Revelle | Lists | June 6, 2023 |

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Ah, corporations, the faceless entities we’re legally required to treat as people as they engage in legally-required villainy! Late-stage capitalism creates nothing but misery and shallow myths to perpetuate that misery, but did you know they can also engage in the most insulting placebo activism known to humans? It’s true! Whenever a marginalized community gets one month, week, or day of recognition from the same American culture that keeps them down, here come corporations saying, “We see you!” Or more accurately, “We see buyers to sell to.” What usually follows is not so much help, recognition, or support, but a tacky pantomime of allyship like with how Target rolled back their Pride gear at the slightest provocation or Budwiesser tossing a trans influencer under the bus once they got what they wanted (access to a market). When corporations offer disingenuous support that crumbles under the slightest test, it’s a net negative. Target and Bud have shown that their products are ultimately not for queer people, or at least are more for pearl-clutching bigots than for anyone left-of-hetero. Message received! It’s a lesson to us all: any given corporations’ public support of a marginalized group is inherently un-altruistic because all corporate action services profit-maximization. The marginalized may see benefit as a byproduct, but that is not the goal, so it is not a question of whether rainbow-washing is false allyship, but to what degree it’s false.

So I’m going to rag on some corporations because it’s my right as a proud member of the queer lefty pinko menace, but also because it’s good to remember that they are not our friends and do not have our best interests in mind. Using my extremely scientific and not-at-all subjective 10-rainbow rating system, we’ll appraise some examples of rainbow-washing this Pride.

Xerox
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Ah, finally, a copy machine that sees me and my sexual identity. Pride is a time when I reflect on the gift of queerness and also whether we’d be better served treating our sexualities like our appetites for food: many-faceted and ever-expanding over time. Anyway, props for using the trans-and-poc-inclusive progress flag, Xerox! When conservative trolls like George Santos and Just Kidding Rowling are pushing garbage like this, it’s a change of pace.
Rating: 4/10 🌈’s
Spotlight Instead: Equality Texas which fights the 53 anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently debated in Texas.

NASCAR


This is a pretty good example of the lazy-looking rainbow wash you see a million times but points for signal-boosting the Trevor Project. It’s a gesture, but that’s all it takes to rile some chuds up for “going woke.” At least there’s that bit of schadenfreude!
Rating: 5/10 🌈’s
Spotlight Instead: PROMO which fights the 48 anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently debated in Missouri.

Disney


Yes, the people who brought you such groundbreaking queer representation as Josh Gad playing Le Fou just love us queers. From letting two women embrace for a second in a Star Wars, to mishandling the Don’t Say Gay bill, Disney has reassured us repeatedly that we are functionally invisible to them outside of the times they can directly monetize our inclusion like Gay Days. They may be the lesser evil in the fight between them and DeSantis, but that doesn’t make Disney any kind of true friend to queers.
Rating: 2/10 🌈’s
Spotlight Instead: Freedom Oklahoma which fights the 35 anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently debated in Oklahoma.

Netflix


While providing a platform to Heartstopper is lovely, giving a platform to a transphobic comedian who merely punches down these days is a pretty stark mark. The way their CEO speaks about it, you’d think queer and trans people existing in public life is an issue with sides to debate and not humans trying to live or something. Look no further than the plastic Queer Eye that suggests our value as queer people is in our service and utility to others and not a matter of principle.
Rating: 1/10 🌈’s
Spotlight Instead: One Iowa which fights the 29 anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently debated in Iowa.

Bank of America


Like Xerox, good for B of A staying current on their Pride colors. Congrats to their PR people. However, it’ll take more than a temporary logo recolor to make up for being a major contributor to the 2008 economic collapse. Plus it’s so silly that a faceless corporation that’s a terminator in pursuit of money would paint itself rainbow and expect us to scream yaaaaaaaaaaas. They’re a very dominant presence at Boston’s Pride and it’s a bummer.
Rating: 3/10 🌈’s
Spotlight Instead: ACLU of Tennessee which fights the 26 anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently debated in Tennessee.

Honorable Mention: PRI(DE MON)TH.
I love it when some dumb asshole’s take that they think is a total burn just blows up entirely in their faces. This Tweet from queer creator James Somerton sums it up nicely.

What can I say, DEMON in rainbow kinda slays? Buy your own trans-made Pride Demon shirt for a true 2023 vibe at Pride!

Chris Revelle shrieks into the media void with his pals on Why Did We Watch This?