Brands & Pride 2024: Serving LGBTQ+ Customers

By Rebecca Hobbs

The following is an extract from a report by Stylus Retail & Brand Comms.

Reacting to 2023’s backlashes and boycotts, some brands have avoided Pride 2024 despite a clear commercial and moral imperative: globally, LGBTQ+ spending power rose by 20.5% between 2019 and 2023 (see Key Stats). But others are winning fans by digging in, surfacing hidden histories, creating sanctuaries, centring family (biological and chosen) and taking an educative role.

Comms Championing Finding Freedom in Family

Several major brands focused on LGBTQ+ individuals’ journeys via the lens of family. Films by American department store Macy’s foreground LGBTQ+ teens and young adults (discussing family-empowered self-expression and acceptance), while US-based cosmetics brand NYX celebrates chosen family in collaboration with the stars of reality show Avalon TV.

“Many chosen families, or 'found families’, originate in drag culture and the ballroom scene, much like 'House of Avalon'. Campaigns like NYX's demonstrate the LGBTQ+ community's rich history, which is the very essence of what Pride is all about. The beginning of the Stonewall Riots, which shaped our movement, included these chosen families marching together in solidarity.” - Tate Smith, LGBTQ+ activist and brand consultant