What the LGBTQ+ community in APAC want brands to know

What can brands in the Asia Pacific do to stop virtue signaling and go beyond openly declaring their support for the LGBTQ+ community? As part of The Drum’s Marketing and the Marginalized Deep Dive, we find out how brands can meet the needs of the LGBTQ+ community in APAC.As consumers focus greater attention on LGBTQ+ inclusion, brands today are responding with more Pride-focused content and campaigns.Some examples in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region include Alibaba featuring a gay couple returning home for Chinese New Year celebrations in one of its advertisements and luxury resort hotel W Singapore featuring a gay couple, like any other holiday-goers, enjoying a staycation on its social media channels.In addition, many brands – especially those in the financial services and technology sectors – are setting up LGBTQ+ chapters for employees, recognizing same-sex domestic partnerships and affording them the same health, housing and parental leave benefits as one would to their heterosexual counterparts.However, examples like these campaigns are far and few between, says Johnson Ong, co-founder and director of operations at BZNZ Singapore, with brands in APAC still struggling to find their footing when supporting the wider LGBTQ+ community.“Outside of Pride Month in June, you don’t see very many marketing campaigns or branding that cater to the LGBTQ+ community. The LGBTQ+ community does not just exist for one month, it exists throughout the year – as such, brands need to show their sincerity and genuine allyship by engaging with the wider LGBTQ+ community all year round,” explains Ong, who identifies as a gay man.“That means, aside from virtue signaling and organizing online Pride events in June, brands need to also commit to devising variations of their service or product offerings that cater specifically to the needs of their LGBTQ+ customers, on an ongoing basis.”Iker Ibanez, build experiences lead for growth markets at Accenture Interactive, agrees, adding brands must be careful to toe the line between “pink-washing” and expressing genuine support. “What brands say, how they say it and the images they use in their marketing can impact the experience and whether a consumer feels included or excluded. For example, a rainbow image printed on a product does little to convey support and/or educate than provide an actual benefit to the community,” he explains.“When Marks & Spencer launched its limited-edition LGBTQ+ sandwich to raise money for charity two years ago, it faced mixed reactions because it was seemingly a portrayal of a brand deploying good causes for advertising purposes. Brands need to distinguish between a campaign or content that highlights the discrimination and one that celebrates the community.”A recent example is F&B lifestyle brand GudSht’s 2021 campaign with TransBefrienders, a local non-profit that aims to give marginalized trans youth a voice, which helped support a growing movement against transphobia in Singapore. Turaiya Noor, customer marketing manager at GudSht, explains brands can leverage their wide consumer audiences and brand cachet in collaborations with specific organizations to try to heighten public awareness of key issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community. “We pride ourselves in being an LGBTQ+ friendly space, where we accept and welcome everyone and anyone. Last year, we also collaborated with the LGBTQ Resilience Fund @ Sayoni, and contributed 10% of proceeds from cocktail sales to the organization,” she adds.What brands can do betterIf brands are serious about making substantial changes to promote wider acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in conservative Asian societies, first they need to see LGBTQ+ concerns as a social, health and safety issue, and not a political issue.With that in mind, efforts need to be made on every level, which includes having top executives lobby the government to influence more LGBTQ+-friendly policies, or to do away with hate laws that put the lives of LGBTQ+ people in danger.“Brands should also throw their weight behind advocacy groups pushing for change or that provide services to the community, for example groups that provide housing and job opportunities to the trans community who may be out on the streets having been thrown out by their families,” says Ong.“It is no surprise that many of these advocacy groups on the local level are underfunded and understaffed, and could certainly benefit from the resources of big global brands operating in APAC.”Ian Lee, who is an associate director at Cognito and identifies as a gay man, notes the most visible way for brands to support the LGBTQ+ community is through representation, which is important as brands play a large part in shaping the cultural zeitgeist.This can be as explicit as having queer people as part of a marketing campaign or supporting LGBTQ+ community organizations, or backing media properties that are LGBTQ+ friendly.He says the reason why representation matters is that in APAC, the LGBTQ+ community has typically been negatively represented, used for comedic effect or completely ignored.This means, with more positive representation, it not only helps the LGBTQ+ community feel a greater connection to larger society, but also helps shift the cultural needle toward greater acceptance by the majority, he suggests.“For international brands operating in the region, many marketers and communications professionals are taking the cue from their global counterparts and adapting LGBTQ+-affirming materials to be used in the region. For example, Converse Singapore brings in their global Pride shoe collections during Pride month,” explains Lee.“For local brands, more are also beginning to reach out to the LGBTQ+ community, either through more inclusive representation or by directly backing LGBTQ+ organizations or initiatives – for example, Pink Dot in Singapore has over 100 local companies sponsoring them.”He adds: “Another critical way for brands to show their support is to look inwardly, and by creating a truly inclusive environment that is shaped both by HR policies and a diverse corporate culture.”Making meaningful changeIn terms of changing cultural and societal mindsets in APAC, consumer brands are doing well in terms of virtue signaling and openly declaring their support for the LGBTQ+ community, observes Ong.He explains he singled out consumer brands specifically because they belong to the group whose actions and words have the greatest cultural impact.“Many of them are so ingrained in popular and consumer culture that it would be impossible to go through life not knowing about them. The best example is Apple, a brand that has openly declared its support for the LGBTQ+ community and whose CEO is himself an openly gay person,” he says.“For every iPhone user in Asia, young or old, liberal or conservative, the influence such a brand has in creating wider acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community is undeniable. Fashion brands such as Nike, Adidas or Michael Kors that have launched Pride versions of their products or window displays in the APAC market are also key to changing cultural mindsets.”He continues: “These brands are highly visible and loud and so the challenge for them is not to dilute their D&I messaging for the APAC market. In recent years, it seems they have done well by not shying away.”Lee adds the first thing brands that are operating in these markets can do is look internally and create a working environment where queer individuals can thrive, particularly in countries they would likely face some level of discrimination, which is a powerful act and can turn employees into strong brand advocates.Secondly, brands that are operating in these markets can also show their support by navigating the cultural “in-between” spaces. Many brands assume that the LGBTQ+ community wants an “all or nothing” approach to support, but like the queer people who are living in these countries, there is an “in-between” cultural space.“As a personal example, I am a gay man living in Singapore and the legality of my existence is, and continues to be, complicated. While I continue to push for change, and I appreciate brands that are willing to be outright supportive of the local LGBTQ+ community, I also recognize brands that navigate the cultural ‘in-between’ spaces. For example, some do this by either backing influencers or celebrities that are both outrightly queer, or queer-coding (e.g. local drag queens), or by using (within legal limits) queer-affirming language,” he says.Brands can also make use of platforms including the Something Private podcast to amplify the voices and stories of those who need to be heard in the LGBTQ+ community.Nicole Lim, producer and host of the podcast, who identifies as a cishet woman, explains since the inception of Something Private, it has managed to grow a fair audience from varying demographics across APAC, which means it has a role to play in normalizing LGBTQ+ stories.This allows the podcast to address the parts of society that are still discriminatory toward the LBGTQ+ community in APAC by profiling and featuring stories of members of the community.“Something Private is chiefly a content platform, aimed at having open and honest conversations that are meant to push the envelope. Where there are good stories around the communities we surround ourselves with, we will keep telling, and that includes the LGBTQ+ community,” says Lim.“We haven’t had many opportunities to do so, simply because it is not often that brands actively pitch for campaigns with such profiles, or rather that we get to work with brands that carry out campaigns like these. Whatever stories we’ve done that have featured the LGBTQ+ community under Something Private are all editorial projects!”

What the LGBTQ+ community in APAC want brands to know

By Shawn Lim | Reporter, Asia Pacific

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