I always preach to clients that they shouldn’t just slap a rainbow on their images or an ad and wipe their hands clean of any more LGBTQ+ marketing for the year. However, the rainbow flag is an extremely powerful symbol and should be used at times to show support to the community. Take this message and apply it to other areas of inclusive marketing as well. Try to incorporate things such the BLM flag or symbols of diversity for other communities.
When finding models for lifestyle shoots, be intentional about casting a diverse group of people, while still making it feel natural. Diversity should include way more than just skin color and should be inclusive of age, sexual orientation, people living with disabilities and more. Sometimes, it might even be a good idea to do a photoshoot of one subgroup, like AAPIs or trans folks for a specific campaign, but make sure these people are included in your ‘mainstream’ campaigns.
Make a graphic post or illustration to show your support for lesser known, but still important days of celebration to diverse communities. Think Day of Trans Visibility (March 31), Indigenous People’s Day (October 11), or International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3) . These days lend themselves really well to social media because they don’t necessarily need a big campaign, but just a simple graphic to show you care and are paying attention.
Airlines were some of the first companies to engage in LGBTQ+ marketing back in the 1990s and today they are some of the biggest allies and employers of LGBTQ+ people. Today, Delta airlines is killing the LGBTQ+ outreach game both on social media and offline. In July of 2021 (note, not in June), they launched an in flight safety video from the cast of Queer Eye, which further showed their commitment to diverse representation.
While I am not head over heels for some of the design choices on P&G’s Instagram feed, they seemed to follow all the advice I outlined above for a great inclusive feed. Not only do their stories highlight folks from all walks of life, they often choose to tell these stories when the mainstream focus is elsewhere. For example, they announced a big donation to a group promoting LGBTQ+ athletes in August and in September they debuted their 846 film - a tribute to George Floyd and the Black community.
For a company that I thought would scream ‘heteronormativity’ from the proverbial rooftops, I was pleasantly surprised that The Knot’s instagram feed consists of about 20-30% LGBTQ+ couples. Not only do they do a wonderful job portraying LGBTQ+ couples, they have a fantastic mix of POC, disabled folks, and people of all ages tying the knot. And all while looking authentic. Their social media gurus are inclusivity geniuses.
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