by Emma Sue Harris. @ohemmasue.
It’s June, and you know what that means: it’s the season of love! (Queer love, that is)
Pride month snuck up on us, but after being inside so long, it’s time to “come out” and show your support for the LGBTQ+ community. What’s the best way for Broadway to show its support? With full-tilt-boogie Pride marketing campaigns, of course! Not everyone will make it through June alive (aka, without being canceled), so make sure your shows’ marketing team is armed with all the rainbow commercialism goodness we all know and expect from Pride month!
1. Make like Finian and get a rainbow!
If you do nothing else, post a rainbow version of your show logo. Change the usual background on your website to a rainbow one! Make your Facebook & Twitter headers rainbow! All rainbow all the time! No one will be able to say you didn’t try.
2. Partner up!
If you can partner with an LGBTQ organization, make sure it’s with one whose CEO makes at least six figures & that has no trans people on its board of directors. That way you can ensure that your campaign has all of the outward appearances of a good faith effort, and anyone who mindlessly scrolls past your post will think “oh, it seems like they’re doing something.”
3. Add your brand’s special touch
Take a line from your show out of context and make it about Pride! Don’t put too much thought into it, any line mentioning ‘love’ or ‘equality’ will do. Don’t worry about it making sense, 50% of gay people can’t read anyway.
4. No tea! No shade!
Remember to never reply to negative comments, quote tweets, or shares of your post- you can’t please everyone. Instead of listening to anyone, tune it out and remember: if someone calls you out, it’s just cause they don’t know you’re a #ally! And, to avoid this sort of thing:
5. Show your #Ally Pride
Reinforce that you’re an ally CONSTANTLY. Consider adding the word “ally” to your tags and your SEO keywords to really let everyone know that YOU’RE AN ALLY. The most important part of being an ally is saying it!
6. Visibility matters!
Gay people love looking at themselves, so post a picture of a gay person you’ve worked with in the past, OR of a palatable iconic gay actor (Billy Porter is always a safe choice) to show your followers that you know some gay people and you’re not afraid to show it!
If you’d like to go the extra mile, make a public statement about how trans people exist. No one can argue with that AND you don’t have to deal with the pesky task of actually confronting trans people’s existence or including them in your space!