Typically, around this time last year, in June 2019, and (just a few) years before that, companies and corporations would all simultaneously switch all their social media avatars and banners to include a rainbow theme version of their logo. It’s such a sight to behold: the sporadic changing of corporate avatars and profile pictures exactly right after 9pm (PDT) on May 31st. It’s as if it Pride is just another seasonal holiday like Christmas or Easter, where the marketing departments of every company tries to use Pride to market and promote their brand, or worse, sell cheaply-made products with rainbows on them at a premium price. This year was different. I have not seen as many companies rainbow wash their profiles. Perhaps they were not sure if it should be rainbow or black this year.
Rainbow washing (or pinkwashing) describes various marketing and political strategies for promoting branding, products, and reputation through an appeal to LGBT+ friendliness (Wikipedia, 2020). Corporations merely see it as the next big thing or fad to market around (Wired, 2018).
In recent events, there have been protests against police-brutality set off by the death of George Floyd in May 25 (Ebrahimji, 2020). Near the end of May, Black Lives Matter organized rallies across the United States and worldwide for racial equality. Shortly after, “In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, Instagram users are lettering their accounts go dark for Blackout Tuesday” (Smith, 2020). This however, has had negative consequences as the very protesters that were using social media to share vital information and updates were no longer able to, as the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag has become flooded by an endless stream of black squares. Similarly, companies have followed suit, branding their updates to their products as loosely support for the movement.
Activision has done a deplorable example of this. On June 1, Activision has posted notices for their Call of Duty games across all its Twitter pages and other social media profiles simultaneously, stating that they have suspended updates to their games indefinitely (Activision, 2020), in grey on black text, as if that is merely just the seasonal marketing theme of the month to them. Similar to rainbow washing, they are advertising themselves as supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, taking attention away from actual movement-related posts, but have not actually done anything to support the cause. This is merely a political, power move, as they can delay and halt development of their products, after especially experiencing cutbacks on productivity due to the CoVID-19 pandemic. The update to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, one of their feature games and gaming platform, would have brought new police themed scenarios, equipment, and aesthetics; which ultimately would have been quite the worse timing. Furthermore, Activision has had a history for being highly criticised for fostering racist and homophobic behaviour across their Call of Duty franchise and platforms. What has Activision actively done to reduce racism and homophobia from their gaming platforms prior?
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Bibliography and References
(A majority of them are just the same or similar Tweet that I’ve referenced.)
Activision [Twitter page]. (2020, June 1). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1267626497902174208?s=20
Activision Blizzard [Twitter page]. (2020, June 1). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ATVI_AB/status/1267300339104968709?s=20
Alisha Ebrahimji. (2020, June 3). This is how loved ones want us to remember George Floyd. CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/27/us/george-floyd-trnd/index.html
Call of Duty [Twitter page]. (2020, June 1). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1267626497902174208?s=20
Call of Duty Modern Warfare News [Twitter page]. (2020, June 1). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/MWModernWarfare/status/1267631614290472961?s=20
Reiss Smith. (2020, June 2). Instagram turns dark for Blackout Tuesday as Rihanna, Mariah Carey and Laverne Cox rally behind Black Lives Matter. PinkNews. Retrieved from https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/06/02/blackout-tuesday-what-is-instagram-black-lives-matter-2020/
Wikipedia. (2020, May 2). Pinkwashing (LGBT). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkwashing_(LGBT)
Wired. (2018, June 21). The Problem with the “Rainbow-Washing” of LGBTQ+ Pride. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/lgbtq-pride-consumerism/