So, I will make no secret that I’m rolling my eyes at all of that marketing stuff that goes up every year. But I’ve been thinking, it doesn’t have to be so superficial and pointless. Maybe there’s some rare exception out there that took the opportunity to say or do something meaningful.
Did you come across a company or organisation lately that use the occasion to take some stance beyond feelgood buzzwords or implement a policy internally or in their area of operations that is of at least some importance?
I’m part of a non-profit queer marching/symphonic band that does year round performances, so I’m exposed a little differently than most, but there are a number of corporations that do large donations/sponsorships that aren’t exactly promoted out into the world. It might be insignificant to some, but these donations are what allow us to basically continue existing year after year so that we can continue supporting the local community.
While I do live in a predominantly lgbtq-friendly area, the extent to which our performances are televised makes a difference in terms of visibility all across the US. We were the first queer band to ever perform at the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade last year and the amount of messages we got from watchers from all around the country for the following few months was truly amazing.
Thanks, that’s indeed a very good example of a meaningful contribution.
My employer did donate to a local NGO too last year (but not this year? not sure), but it wasn’t visible externally. I think it would have been fine it it was publicised. Instead, what was publicised was a blogpost that honestly didn’t say anything specific at all except for hitting a few keywords for good SEO.
Not anything major on my end, but my library does do occasional displays of queer material (among other materials) all year round, which I’m always appreciative of.
Oh! Good point. That’s the case for my local libraries too - I took it for granted but I shouldn’t have.
