Opinion Today: Are these the cringe-worthy Pride ads we’ll see next year?

We asked an artist to satirize corporate Pride branding. The result is uncomfortably close to reality.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story July 3, 2023 Illustrations by Max Wittert By Damien Saatdjian and Sam Whitney Every June, the two of us, who work as art directors at Times Opinion, find ourselves asking the same question: What is it about Pride that has so many companies offering their full-throated support? Is the L.G.B.T.Q. community the most palatable minority group? Do we have the biggest spending power? Or is it just really easy to plaster a rainbow flag on pretty much anything? Whatever the reason — performative allyship, well-intended partnerships, nihilistic capitalism — the slurry of campaigns that start every June 1 at 12:01 a.m. can at times feel wildly out of touch. It's hard to know if these companies don't have any L.G.B.T.Q. representation or if they're just missing the mark, but there is no shortage of cringe-inducing Pride branding every year. The corporate world's shaky commitment to queer representation has become undeniably clear this year. Anheuser-Busch issued a seemingly apologetic public statement after Bud Light partnered with a prominent trans influencer, and Target pulled Pride-themed merchandise from some of its stores after receiving backlash. With this in mind, we thought it might be fun to put together a project satirizing the corporate world's complicated relationship to Pride. We enlisted the comedian and illustrator Max Wittert to collaborate with us to bring these ideas to life — and the results do not disappoint. We hope that you take a look, have a laugh and remember this project the next time a brand tries, clumsily, to speak to you on your level. See the Op-Art here. Illustrations by Max Wittert Corporate Gay for Pay Ten companies that could make even more out of Pride next year. 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