If you haven’t spotted the rainbow flags flying across social media over the last few months, where have you been?! June marked the official “Pride Month” but up and down the country people have been celebrating for the whole summer, with Bournemouth Pride taking place last month.
We couldn’t help but get swept up in the excitement of Pride, so in true Sunny Bird PR fashion, here is a roundup of our favourite Pride campaigns!
Absolut Welcome all Flavours
Absolut have worked with Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ charity, for two years with both 2016 and 2017 seeing exciting campaigns for Pride Month. This year, the vodka brand took it one step further with a huge call to action. Not content with just wrapping London buses with the rainbow flag, Absolut also installed donation points in the back of every seat on two London buses.
Step onto any London bus and you’ll see the tops of everyone’s heads as they stare down at their smartphone. Absolut found a way to make this productive with a way for passengers to donate to Stonewall with just a tap of their phone.
Using insight, new technology and, of course, plenty of colour is what we believe made this campaign so effective.
No Labels. Just Pride. With YO!
This is an interesting one. While most brands bandwagoning (or should that be pridewagoning?) on the Pride hype simply slap a rainbow effect upon their logos and branding, Japanese restaurant and Pride in London partner YO! have thrown out the whole lot from its High Street Kensington store, removing all insignia and labels from its storefront as part of its No Labels. Just Pride campaign.
The concept, which has also been rolled out onto YO!'s various digital channels, comes as response to recent research by Pride in London revealing that the LGBTQ+ community feel ‘over-labelled’. In removing all its branding, YO! hopes to initiate a much-needed conversation around not labelling people and will encourage the nation to celebrate what Pride is really all about.
Kisses at Heathrow
Last month, a very unique flag was flying over London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2, one made entirely out of rainbow-coloured kisses.
This crowd-sourced artwork was made possible by the kisses of over 6,000 international passengers passing through the UK's biggest airport. A choice of vibrant red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple lipstick was given to anyone interested enough in puckering up to a blank canvas needing a bit of tender love and care. Hey, we've all been there right?
This Heathrow Pride takeover also sees the airport logo receive a Pride makeover and many digital screens across the airport transformed into vibrant displays of rainbow colours.
Skittles Causes Controversy
Skittles, the official “taste the rainbow” candies ditched its signature rainbow of candy colours in favour of an all-white appearance for one reason: to honour June pride month.
The message on the back of the limited-edition bag read, “During Pride, only one rainbow matters. So we’ve given up ours to show support.”
However, the white bag and the white-only coating on the shelled fruity treats was considered a misstep that raised the issue of exclusion. Critics took to Twitter to share that they felt the new direction was inadvertently tone-deaf, rather than supportive of LGBTQ people, as the company intended.
