In late May, the North Face rolled out an ad campaign featuring drag queen and environmentalist Pattie Gonia. The outdoor equipment and clothing brand’s Instagram ad showed the rainbow-clad queen frolicking in forests and meadows, inviting viewers to “come out in nature … with us!”
Although it was the second year that Pattie Gonia and the North Face had collaborated on Pride-theme advertising, the campaign led conservatives to call for a boycott of North Face products. Similar situations have played out repeatedly this year, with big corporations such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Target and Kohl’s facing ire over marketing and merchandising efforts that include queer people. For a long time, big companies ignored queer people — or if they did appear in ads, they were stereotyped and caricatured. As LGBTQ+ people gained more rights in the United States, corporations’ marketing efforts slowly became more inclusive. Despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of Americans support same-sex marriage, according to Gallup — and rainbow-studded advertising is common — marketing campaigns featuring queer people are still provoking vitriol.
