MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Make Pride a Commitment, Not Just a Campaign

There is a certain predictability to marketing in June. Logos dress up in rainbow colors. Marketers vie to outdo their counterparts at other brands in finding clever ways to weave Pride into their messaging and limited-edition products. The news media publish “best of LGBTQ+ pride” lists on cue. And invariably, a raft of experts decries these mostly facile marketing moves by brands like Skittles, which in June trades its signature colors for gray, asserting that “only one rainbow matters during Pride” while donating only up to $100,000 — a tiny fraction of its estimated annual revenue of over $300 million — to advocacy group GLAAD.

About the Author

Dipanjan Chatterjee is a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, where he heads the brand strategy research practice. He is also a fellow at the Kautz-Uible Economics Institute at the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business.

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