ADventures in Law

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Pride Month has arrived. Flags are unfurled<em>,</em> pride parades are happening everywhere (well, sadly, not everywhere), and pride merch has arrived in stores near you and online. It’s always a month of ups and downs. We are saddened to see that gay-rights icon Cyndi Lauper just <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/cyndi-lauper-farewell-tour-1235913708/">announced her farewell tour</a>, and we’re hopeful that it will last for years – much like the apparently still-ongoing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Proof:_The_Farewell_Tour">Cher farewell tour</a>. And new “sort of” icons are emerging – with a recent <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jojo-siwa-announces-new-single-choose-ur-fighter-1235029868/">Rolling Stone headline</a> stating, “JoJo Siwa Threatens Release of New Single ‘Choose Ur Fighter.’” Well-played, Rolling Stone. It’s going to be a busy and fun month. But lest we forget, it is also an important and meaningful month.

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Back in May 2020, when we were still experimenting with homemade antibacterial soap and sourdough starters, GLAAD, a nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy organization, put out <a href="https://glaad.org/releases/procter-gamble-and-glaad-study-exposure-lgbtq-representation-media-and-advertising-leads/">an interesting study</a>. Given our focus on other things back then, it might have escaped notice, and we thought it warranted a second look. The study, “LGBTQ Inclusion in Advertising and Media,” provided some substantiation of the proposition that exposure to LGBTQ people in the media increases non-LGBTQ people’s comfort with LGBTQ people in their daily lives. It was a study of a national sample of 2,000 U.S. adults who were asked a series of questions about their familiarity with the LGBTQ community and their comfort level and exposure to LGBTQ images in the media. The core conclusion: media presence can lead to greater acceptance and understanding.

It’s an interesting study, and the results aren’t shocking to us, since exposure certainly can lead to familiarity and comfort. Sometimes. And the visual world has changed dramatically as we see more and more LGBTQ representation in television shows, films and advertising. In fact, we are now convinced that Dan Levy appears in at least a quarter of all the ads we see on TV these days. And <a href="https://glaad.org/watch-now-all-the-lgbtq-inclusive-ads-featured-during-super-bowl-lviii/">GLAAD noted</a> that the 2024 Super Bowl included 10 ads featuring LGBTQ representatives (including an ad with one of our favorites, Kate McKinnon).

And lest we forget, 20 years ago, very few companies were celebrating Pride Month, and that has changed quite dramatically in recent years. Of course, we also see waves of backlash that serve as regular reminders that there is still a lot of progress left to achieve. But perhaps the GLAAD study reminds us why we see the backlash and why representation is so important.

Happy Pride Month – Representation in Media and Advertising Matters