June is here, and as the global LGBTQ community begins to celebrate Pride Month, many corporations are taking to their social media accounts and changing their logos to reflect rainbow colors.
For years, major companies have shown their allegiance to the movement in small symbolic ways. But Pride Month rarely goes by without at least one public relations gaffe, and this year’s first culprit might be German car manufacturer BMW.
For Pride Month, BMW updated its logo on its main Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts, as well as regional Twitter profiles including South Africa, the U.K., India, and Mexico to a colorful rainbow-clad palette. Every account, that is, except for one.
The logo on BMW’s Middle East account on Twitter has yet to be updated to reflect the occasion, despite the company having already made the changes on its other regional account pages. The company’s Middle East pages on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn also have yet to be changed.
BMW’s Middle East office is based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, a country where homosexuality is still very much illegal and punishable with lengthy jail time and hefty fines.
BMW’s slip did not go unnoticed by Twitter sleuths, and the company is being lambasted online for the blunder.
“Why @BMW is on solidarity with all #LGBTQ around the world but not in the Middle East?” One user posted.
“Wondering if you’ll be updating the Middle East emblem for BMW, if you’re so proud of your diversity get the rainbow up there too,” another wrote.
“It’s super important to support marginalized people in places where it’s popular to do so,” wrote popular blogger Tim Urban, who shared an image showing five regional BMW accounts with Pride logos, accompanied by the unchanged Middle East one.
BMW did not respond to Coins2Day’s request for comment.
This isn’t the first time the car manufacturer has been in hot water during Pride Month: The company received criticism for failing to update its Middle East account logo last year too. Other companies this year have also been criticized for not displaying Pride colors on their Middle East accounts, including software developer Cisco, video game publisher Bethesda, and another German car manufacturer: Mercedes-Benz.
While using Pride branding can be considered an act of solidarity with the LGBTQ community, companies have also been accused of “rainbow-washing,” or monetizing Pride branding while continuing to work with actors unaligned or in opposition to the movement.
Over the past three years, U.S. Companies donated nearly $3 million to lawmakers who have advanced proposals banning discussions on gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, according to a recent analysis by think tank and advocacy group Data for Progress. These include several Coins2Day 500 companies who have sponsored Pride events in the past, including Toyota, AT&T, Comcast, and State Farm.
