Conference Agenda

Despite the increasing use of the term pinkwashing, we lack insights into how queer consumers understand the phenomenon and how they distinguish it from legitimate corporate political advocacy (CPA). To explain how companies might avoid pinkwashing, semi-structured interviews were conducted among eight LGBTQ+ consumers. Data were analysed using the grounded theory approach to accurately describe participants’ experiences. Results showed that queer consumers define pinkwashing based on five company characteristics: firm motivations, firm history, firm size, internal policies, and representativeness of the community. Participants generally accepted a combination of economic and social motives of corporate LGBTQ+ advocacy. Their assessment of corporate LGBTQ+ advocacy came from looking at the business as a whole rather than a single campaign. They demanded that the firm provides an accurate and inclusive representation of the community through internal support and external communication instead of only the dominant gay discourse. Also, brands should be committed to abandoning the binary business approach.

The interviews revealed that not all participants strongly disputed pinkwashing, which might be explained by their cultural and social context. The lack of social tolerance and LGBTQ+ visibility in homosexuality-skeptical countries has led to participants’ more benign view of corporate queer representation and tolerance of any advocacy even if it might be pinkwashing. By looking at pinkwashing from a consumer perspective, this study gives way to intersectional studies, incorporating gender, sexuality and culture in explaining the phenomenon. Results also enable communication managers to create LGBTQ+ advocacy campaigns that might benefit both the community and the company.

Background: Organizations increasingly communicate about and with LGBTQIA+ publics, especially during Pride month. However, such corporate social advocacy-communication (CSA-communication) about LGBTQIA+ topics is often received with skepticism, as the public tends to doubt the authenticity of the engagement, which can have a negative effect on the perceived legitimacy of the communicating organizations. This study analyses perceptions of CSA-communication on LGBTQIA+ topics and investigates effects on legitimacy. Methodology: An online experiment is conducted with the general Dutch public that compares the effect of timing (during Pride or Valentine’s Day) and effort of the organization (low, medium, high) in LGBTQIA+ communication on perceptions of legitimacy. Additionally, effects of such CSA-communication are compared to general CSR-communication. Results: Findings indicate that CSA-communication involving low effort caused higher levels of legitimacy than when more effort was invested. Timing of the LGBTQIA+ event was not significantly associated with legitimacy. Additionally, CSR-communication is associated with higher levels of legitimacy compared to CSA-communication on the LGBTQIA+ theme. This effect is explained by a moderation effect of (negative) attitudes towards LGBTQIA+ people.

A new idea called corporate activism considers companies take sides and declare their support or opposition to social and political issues that are frequently contentious. According to Eilert and Nappier Cherup (2020:463) corporate activism is “a company’s willingness to take a stand on social, political, economic, and environmental issues to create societal change by influencing the attitudes and behaviors of actors in its institutional environment.”

When we consider the Turkish companies, sustainability, and social responsibility are the two signifcant subject that are carried out successfully. Koç Holding, one of Turkey's leading and largest companies, embraced the issue of gender equality. Koç Holding has been an important stakeholder in the HeForShe movement run by the UN Women's Unit for almost seven years. In this study, corporate activism, which is a new concept in Turkey, will be examined from the perspective of corporate culture, internal communication and social impact. In this direction, the HeForShe movement of the UN will be analyzed within the framework of Koç Holding by conducting a case study. While conducting this case study analysis, we will make a comprehensive analysis of the company's background, activism strategy, impact, and challenges. By following this process, we will try to get a deeper understanding of how companies can effectively engage in activism to promote positive social change while balancing its core business interests and values. We will analyze the media campaigns, public statements, financial contributions, or other actions of Koç Holding.

This paper draws on postcolonial theory to examine how promotional campaigns, as socio-cultural texts, embed power imbalances through language and various promotional media. It closely examines the mechanism of “Othering” as a process of reproducing cultural Western-centric representations within Oriental discourse, by the purpose of a case study, the promotional campaign of the movie ‘The Mauritanian’. The thematic analysis of promotional campaign texts (e.g. media texts, media interviews, transcripts of TV late night shows etc.) focuses on narratives of Western shame, reinforcement of Western cultural superiority and the syndrome of White saviour. This critical study considers how the Muslim Other’s difference is encoded by reproducing cultural stereotypes and, drawing on Edward Said’s work, specifically on his definition of ‘Orientalism’ and analysis of the Middle East, it also discusses the salience of such mechanisms in promotional campaigns. Concluding, our paper advocates for culturally inclusive PR activities and empathy in PR (Yeomans, 2016), as a key principle of culture-centric approach in strategic communications (Dutta, 2007; 2015).

This paper explores the language used in six Norwegian municipality action plans towards gender and sexual minorities (LGBT+), reflecting on these plans as strategic communication tools and if the municipalities are able to move the non-heterosexual minorities towards inclusion with the language in their own local action plans. I’m bringing in theories of strategic communication on an interdisciplinary scope and on the importance of creating conversations and educational and queer studies theories of «othering» to unpack the concept and consequences of excluding language. I argue that that all six municipalities are sporadically successful in developing inclusive language, meaning words and phrases that are anti-oppressive and moves their minorities out of the margins by embracing words and phrases such as «those of us who are» instead of «those who are LGBT+», «the groups» and «people who break norms».