It’s that time of the year when corporations signal all their virtue in the best way the internet gives us; changing our avatars to reflect that day’s/week’s/month’s cause. With it being LGBT “Pride” month, corporations are showing their “pride” by making their avatars into rainbow-laden versions of their logo on every account…

…accept accounts based in places where LGBT people aren’t accepted.

What do I mean? Check out the following brands that only have “pride” in places where it’s monetarily safe to do so.

super excited for brands to support Pride but only in places where it's popular with their customers !! pic.twitter.com/nvkd7byoB1

— Jessica (@bananapixelsuk) June 1, 2021

Weird these companies aren’t embracing PRIDE month in the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/PXWia7uS35

— Tyler Bowyer (@conservatyler) June 3, 2021

"PlayStation welcomes 𝒂𝒍𝒍* players."

*Except LGBTQ+ players from Russia and the Middle East. Welcoming them, just wouldn't be profitable enough.

🏳️‍🌈 Happy #Pride! To whoever it pays off for us to support!

1/3 companies I've seen this pattern in. (thread) pic.twitter.com/pg26o2fVsK

— Davor Petreski (@davorpetreski2) June 27, 2020

Some didn’t change their logos at all, but it’s pretty obvious as to why.

Interesting how the media companies with extensive business ties to China didn’t change their logos to something more #Pride centric. pic.twitter.com/qKnCgXa6SN

— Chairman Beb! (@basmith_co) June 3, 2021

What does the above evidence tell us? The point is pretty clear.

A major corporation’s number one concern is making money, and if it thinks that slapping a rainbow avatar on its account and tweeting out something about showing “pride” is going to make you buy more stuff, then that’s what they’ll do. It’s not really a principle they have. They aren’t actually concerned or supportive of LGBT rights, or any social movement for that matter. They’re only doing it because they think they’ll get a monetary boost by doing so.

And why not? It’s a cheap, quick, and easy advertisement. They signal their “virtue,” you buy things thinking that the company sees you and cares about you.

They don’t.

The truth is, if tomorrow the mainstream culture throughout the United States thought that the LGBT community, and every alphabet letter in between, were absolutely abhorrent and disgusting, they’d not only cease signaling support to them, they’d actively denounce them if that’s what it took for people to come to buy more of their products.

We know that because we can see it for ourselves with the way brands are very selective where they show this “pride.” The BMW corporation may send a representative to a pride parade decked out in rainbows and handing out keychains that bear the logo alongside the words “love is love” but in places like Russia, China, and the Middle East, they wouldn’t dare speak of this “pride.”

If that’s the case, it’s not really pride, is it? Pride indicates that you feel a sense of security and satisfaction with yourself on a certain matter. If that security and outward self-approval disappear when it becomes inconvenient to have it, then there’s no actual pride there.

It’s important that everyone, not just the LGBT community, understand that a brand jumping on board with a cause isn’t doing so because it’s the right thing to do, it’s because it’s the bright thing to do for their business.

It’s not just major brands either. It’s celebrities and politicians as I’ve written about recently.

(READ: Dear LGBT Community, You’re Being Used as a Cash Grab by Mainstream Figures)

Mainstream society isn’t ready to have this conversation quite yet, but relying on major brands to carry your water is a bad investment. Eventually, they will turn their back on you.

Thing is, it’s not exactly something you can get mad at them about. For you, it’s your life, your identity, your cause célèbre. For them, it’s just business. A corporation lives and dies based on its decisions. People gain or lose entire livelihoods from the lowest employee to the highest, strictly based on decisions made on a daily basis. If the top advisors say that plastering pride flags all over their internet profiles except where gays and lesbians are rejected outright, then that’s what the company is going to do.

It’s shady, it’s slimy, and it’s a performance entirely based on lies, but that’s just how the cookie crumbles. You’re being used, and you should get used to it if your adamant that the people who sell soft drinks and zebra cakes pretend to care about your cause.

The alternative is much healthier, more self-respectful, and easier for everyone.

Don’t demand they lie to you about how much they care.