How Subarus Came to Be Seen as Cars for Lesbians

Summary

This article discussed how the Subaru car company used targetted advertising to market their cars. When they began to look at demographics that were buying their cars, lesbians were one of the main groups identified. They openly marketed and sold to a lesbian/gay market when it wasn’t popular to do so and reformed policies within their own companies to match the ideals they were trying to sell. The company figured out subtle marketing strategies that appealed to both their lesbian/gay audience but also their more conservative audience. Their successful marketing toward a stigmatized group was less about curating an image and, instead, was an acknowledgement and support of their customers.

Example

While reading this article, it made me think about the controversy over companies advertising and participation during pride month and pride parades. Companies will put out LGBTQ advertisements and have floats in pride parades. However, many people have become annoyed at this because it takes away the meaning of pride and is taking advantage of their demographic. Some of the companies that advertise during pride only do so because it will bring in money, but they don’t actually support the LGBTQ community, and so are using pride purely as a marketing scheme. This has made many people who are part of, and support, the LGBTQ community mad because of the disrespect they feel is happening by advertising to a group that a company is actively spending money to suppress.

Connection

Comanies that advertise during pride month often are called out because they are obviously using it as a chance to gain publicity. Also, many times it is a product that does not have a significant LGBT demographic that would warrant such specific advertisments. This is in direct contrast to how Subaru marketed towad their lesbian community. They were identified as an already existing, major demographic, so advertising to them made sense. Subaru also changed their company policies to reflect the messages they were advertising, but many of the companies and organizations that advertise during pride month don’t do the same.