Primark faces backlash as no profits from Pride t-shirts donated to LGBT+ causes

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

Retail giant Primark has faced backlash after it was revealed that no profits from their Pride themed clothing would be donated to LGBT+ organisations.

The clothing store admitted that no profits from its rainbow coloured clothing that was released ahead of Pride celebrations in cities across the UK would be donated.

In Manchester, t-shirts with a rainbow print and the city name were and the slogan ā€œManchester is Proudā€ were put in window displays.

One customer, Robin Grace, sent an email to the company to enquire whether or not proceeds would be going towards LGBT+ charities.

In response, the company sent a statement to Grace in which they said they take LGBT+ issues ā€œvery seriouslyā€ but that they would not be making any donations.

The retailer noted that they are a party of Stonewallā€™s Global Diversity Champions programme.

The statement read: ā€œAs a large retailer we have an extensive charity programme, both at a national and local level, donating to a variety of charities throughout the year, across all the markets in which we operate.

ā€œWe constantly review our preferred charities and are open to suggestions.


ā€œIn this instance I can confirm we are not making a donation linked to the sales from the Pride t-shirt range.ā€

Earlier this year, Apple launched a red iPhone ā€œto fight AIDSā€, however, the company failed to say how much money from the proceeds would be going to charity.

The tech giant announced the special edition versions of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, as part of a partnership with (RED), to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.

The phone, which went on sale worldwide on March 24, will build on Appleā€™s existing work with (RED), which has to date raised $130 million for the Global Fund.

But HIV activists raised questions about how much money will actually be contributed from the phoneā€™s hefty Ā£799/$799 price tag.

Apple specifies that a ā€œcontributionā€ from the price of each phone will go to (RED).

PinkNews asked both Apple and (RED) to clarify how much Appleā€™s contribution will be from the sale of each phone. Apple declined to comment, pointing a release from (RED) that pegged the total to-date contributions from previous Apple campaigns at $130 million.