NEW YORK — High-profile anti-LGBTQ+ consumer boycotts last spring left corporations little time to reconsider long-planned marketing campaigns for Pride Month, experts previously told ABC News.
Over the past year, major companies have had ample opportunity to prepare their advertising for the time of year when public attention centers on the LGBTQ+ community. In this case, however, Pride Month coincides with a growing conservative backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI) in the private sector.
Experts who spoke with ABC News differed about the scale of LGBTQ+-themed advertising so far during Pride Month, but they agreed the anti-DEI movement has made it more difficult for companies to align their policies with the support for LGBTQ+ employees voiced in such marketing.
“When you have this level of political animosity as part of our public discussion, it will show itself in the market,” Joanna Schwartz, a professor of marketing at Georgia …