During last month’s pride celebrations, there was a lot of debate about corporations and their embrace of Pride Month. As with any popular holiday, corporate America is eager to participate in this celebration, reaping the marketing and reputational opportunities that come with it. Yet, many activists and pundits are quick to attack those firms — and capitalism in general — for being shallow, self-interested, and hypocritical. These critiques of “rainbow capitalism” are largely off-base and unjustified.
The companies that sell rainbow-colored jewelry, Pride flags, and t-shirts with Harvey Milk quotations want to make a profit, of course, but that doesn’t mean the value of those expressions is only measured in currency. The products themselves are just a starting point for people to enjoy and interpret for themselves. When a customer unpackages a new set of rainbow tumblers and sets them out for her brunch guests, they contribute to a specific social occasion that their designers and marketers could never have planned or imagined. Like all products people buy, the use we put them to imbues them with meaning.
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