Have you ever noticed that when an artist starts advertising a new album, it’s very easy to tell whether or not they are in the LGBTQ+ community? As some may know, the communication in queer spaces works differently from the “conventional” ways imposed on by the heteronormative society, with it being really showy and easier to differ from the usual ads, which attracts its target audience, LGBTQ+ people, easily.
In the past few years, the queer entertainment has been reaching different audiences, but it wasn’t always like this. Back in the ‘90s, being part of the LGBTQ+ community wasn’t as acceptable as it is today, and a lot of artists, such as Freddie Mercury and David Bowie, had to hide themselves in order to make success, but luckily, they found a safe space to be who they truly were and sing about it, encouraging other artists to do the same.
Ever since, the community has grown and become louder, not only in the industry, but in every other aspect. Being realistic, one of the many reasons why people are making it more “acceptable” to have these advertisements and to discuss about them is because of the money involved; society has a way of only welcoming things into its culture once they get something out of it. Due to this fact, outsiders (non-queer people) use it to gaslight insiders: the term “pink money” is used to describe that.
Pink money (or queer money) is an expression that describes the overall purchasing power of the LGBTQIA+ community and the way businesses market products and services to appeal to this demographic. While investing in it can promote inclusivity, it is also criticized when companies engage in rainbow washing—supporting LGBTQ+ causes superficially for profit without meaningful action.
Nowadays, the exploitation of pink money isn’t something we see as often as before, but it’s still happening: Toyota, Amazon, Walmart and many other companies have been showing support to the community while still donating to Anti-LGBTQ campaigns. Because of this perspective, it’s possible to analyze that being a part of the queer community is never going to be something completely acceptable, because there will always be something in the way, like the idea that you’re only free to be yourself once you have something to offer, something to give, in this context, money and fame.
LET’S LOOK AT A MODERN DAY EXAMPLE
A recent example of an advertising campaign that has been made by and for the queer community has been seen on the weeks following up to the release of the song “The Giver”, and we can use it as a case study on the topic: Chappell Roan has been expanding the reach of her songs and reaching not only the queer community but also those outside of it. She was a phenomenal revelation of 2024, with popular songs such as “Good Luck, Babe!”, “HOT TO GO!” and many more that went viral on TikTok.
But how does her advertising differ from what we already see today? Well, Chappell has a way of doing things that can be considered weird by those outside of queer communities, for example, the way she dresses on her shows and the makeup she wears, is a type of advertising we don’t usually see, bringing authenticity to the artist and giving them an original look.
Ramisha Sattar is an important name to Chappell’s success, being not only the artist’s publicist, but also her best friend. Sattar conceptualized, collaged and created the lyrics and doodles that appear on the official music video of “Red Wine Supernova“. She is one of the reasons why the singer is so known – apart from her music – giving authenticity to her image.
Roan has now released a country song called “The Giver”, changing her usual music genre we were used to. The singer even pointed it out on an Instagram post, saying “It is def a bold and scary move to release a […] country song after […] having such a success in the pop genre, […] but i think that’s the entire point of chappell Roan. Be bold and scary and have fun. […] The whole point of this is to be silly!”
Thinking of the examples above, we can see how far this community has reached, but there’s still a lot we can do to improve communication in queer spaces, however the fact that it is already impacting the society as a whole is extremely beneficial and greatly contributes to the community.
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The article above was edited by Marina di Bernardo Babichak.
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