Leading With Love During Pride Month 2021
Pride has a different look this year, featuring less masks and more in-person celebrations. However, the meaning and purpose behind advocating for and celebrating the LGBTQ+ community is just as – if not more – important. At P&G, we strive to Lead with Love not only during Pride Month, but every month.
Whether we’re in a global pandemic or not, the LGBTQ+ community faces complex and significant obstacles every day. That’s why there is no better time to expand our efforts, find new ways to reach the LGBTQ+ community, and reaffirm our commitment to accurate and authentic visibility while helping those that need it most by building upon our past efforts.
As the LGBTQ+ continues to face loss of livelihoods, lack of access to critical life-affirming healthcare, increased domestic violence and social isolation due to the pandemic, leveraging our 2021 Lead with Love campaign is a natural fit. It reaffirms our promise to remain visible in our actions and stay anchored in our commitments to our communities and employees through our brands and with our business partners, so that we can continue to create a world where equality and inclusion are achievable for all.
At P&G, we believe in the power of our differences and the impact we can make when we come together, united by shared values and purpose. We know we can use our collective voices to shape a dialogue about what it means to be accurately represented, understood and normalized.
Learn more about our three key initiatives that aim to raise visibility and support of the LGBTQ+ community below.
Can’t Cancel Pride 2021
On June 4, P&G and iHeartRadio will host “Can’t Cancel Pride,” a virtual relief benefit for the LGBTQ+ community featuring performances and appearances from influential LGBTQ+ voices and allies in culture and entertainment.
The second annual event will once again demonstrate that nothing can cancel the heart of Pride and the spirit that the LGBTQ+ equality movement embodies while focusing on the issues that continue to impact the LGBTQ+ community in 2021, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
With Can’t Cancel Pride, P&G and iHeartRadio will partner with The Greater Cincinnati Foundation to administer financial support raised to LGBTQ+ organizations, including GLAAD, SAGE, The Trevor Project, the National Black Justice Coalition, CenterLink and OutRight Action International.
Can’t Cancel Pride is part of our ongoing commitment to Equality and Inclusion, as well as raising visibility of the LGBTQ+ community, and is among P&G’s efforts to deliver 2,021 Acts of Good in 2021.
The Visibility Project
We believe LGBTQ+ representation drives LGBTQ+ acceptance. That’s why last month we joined forces with GLAAD and launched The Visibility Project, a new campaign to drive and to sustain LGBTQ+ inclusion in ads and marketing and to leverage the power of these mediums to accelerate LGBTQ+ acceptance.
With The Visibility Project, P&G and GLAAD will bring together the world’s top brands and ad agencies in a coalition dedicated to growing LGBTQ+ inclusion in ads by creating and providing tools, techniques and resources for industry executives, thus harnessing the power of advertising to accelerate LGBTQ+ acceptance.
The Visibility Project will act as a roadmap for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in mainstream advertising, leveraging insights from GLAAD’s landmark 2021 “Accelerating LGBTQ Representation in Advertising” study, a survey of more than 200 advertising and marketing executives on challenges they face around LGBTQ inclusion.
The Association of National Advertisers’ Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) is also working with P&G and GLAAD to expand The Visibility Project and create LGBTQ resources for the greater ad industry. We’re also committing more than $1 million to the program to be provided over three years. Through research, resources and industry gatherings, The Visibility Project will drive community visibility and accelerate business opportunities.
The Visibility Project is our largest program to further P&G’s commitment to LGBTQ+ equality and visibility and to inspire the next generation of advertising’s LGBTQ+ leaders and corporate advocates. Learn more about The Visibility Project and how your company can enhance your advertising business while becoming a force for good for the LGBTQ+ community.
“Coded”
As the third key initiative of P&G’s quest to advocate for authentic and accurate visibility of the LGBTQ+ community, we worked with Imagine Entertainment on the documentary “Coded.” The film, which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, tells the story of legendary illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, a gay man whose early-20th century advertisements for brands like Ivory soap and Gillette razors were rife with coded LGBTQ+ imagery. Leyendecker's work inspired others by quietly acknowledging a community that was forced to live in the closet.
Speaking to LGBTQ+ artists and advertising insiders of today, the documentary will explore Leyendecker’s legacy as a grandfather of modern advertising, connecting how today’s out and proud LGBTQ+ advertisements are built upon a foundation laid by Leyendecker.
By telling Leyendecker's personal story and looking through the lens of his work, we examine the momentum created towards the inclusive advertising of today and use this knowledge to serve as a platform for P&G’s leadership for P&G Brand building.
Throughout our journey, it has not been easy nor have we always gotten everything right. But the lessons we learned have progressed our journey and strengthened our commitment to the LGBTQ+ community. Now more than ever, it is important for companies to create a culture where all people are welcome, and we hope that by sharing our journey, we can inspire others to engage in conversations and help build a more inclusive world for all.
