Pride in London mocked for ad campaign focused on straight people
Pride in London has admitted it “misjudged” a series of adverts that focused on straight people.
Some members of the LGBT community had derided the poster campaign, which was unveiled ahead of next weekend’s Pride in London Parade.
A part of the event’s ‘Love Happens Here’ campaign, the posters bore slogans that were criticised for being centred around straight people, rather than celebrating LGBT identities.
They included the messages “I’m a straight man with gay pride”, “My gay friends make me more attractive by association” and “being homophobic is sooo gay”.
WHY IS LONDON PRIDE ALL ABOUT STRAIGHT PEOPLE pic.twitter.com/0oKo1wJYsa
— innes mckendrick (@innesmck) June 29, 2017
A spokesperson for Pride in London apologised for the “misjudged” campaign.
They said: “As part of our theme to celebrate Love Happens Here we asked people, whether LGBT+ or straight, to send their messages of love for Pride.
“We then asked some wonderful artists to turn some of these messages into a series of posters.
“It is clear we misjudged the content of some of the messages in this poster series, undermining the individuality, importance and dignity of the LGBT+ community.
“This was never our intention, and we are genuinely sorry to have played any part in something that appears to devalue our own community and have removed these four images from our campaign.”
They added: “London’s LGBT+ community is vibrant, diverse and strong, with incredible activists at its heart. Our ambition is, and always will be, to promote and celebrate the visibility and diversity of London’s LGBT+ community, to stand up against hate and campaign for true equality at home and abroad.
“This year has seen our largest ever LGBT+ campaign, taking our messages of love around the world, breaking new ground in the UK, launching new services to tackle hate crime and raising awareness of the persecution of LGBT+ people around the world.
“We hope the breadth of our campaign, that celebrates the wonderful spectrum of LGBT+ life in London, is a more truthful reflection of our community.”
Pride in London recently unveiled a series of TV adverts .
The adverts, to be shown over the next few weeks, each feature an interview with a loved one apologising for the way they treated an LGBT person.
Viewers are shown a mum who turned away her lesbian daughter, a dad who caused his gay son to leave their home, and two people who abandoned their trans and bisexual friends, respectively.
They are the first adverts made by Pride in London to be shown to a national audience – and with the tagline “Don’t leave it unsaid”.
