Pinkwashing

Pinkwashing, sometimes called rainbow-washing, describes deploying LGBTQ-friendly imagery and slogans for ends that have little to do with LGBTQ equality. In marketing, it names brands that sell rainbow merchandise during Pride while funding anti-LGBTQ politicians or offering no real protections for queer staff and customers, a pattern tied to rainbow capitalism. The term also carries a geopolitical meaning, most prominently the critique that a state promotes its record on gay and trans rights to deflect attention from other human rights concerns. In both uses the point is the gap between visible support and material action. Genuine allyship is judged by sustained policy, funding, and accountability, not seasonal branding.