Season 2, E8: F*ck Rainbow Capitalism with Journalist Niko Stratis

June is Pride Month – a chance for the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate the progress that's been made, and this season on High Low Brow, we are dedicating the month of June to all Pride-related content! 🌈✨🌈

For our very first Pride-related episode, we're exploring how corporations prioritize profit over the LGBTQ+ community in our exploring Rainbow Capitalism with Toronto-based sober trans journalist Niko Stratis, who also just recently launched their own podcast V/A Club. 

As Pride month rolls around each June, big brands put out Pride merchandise seemingly as a sign of solidarity, so we use the episode to unpack with Niko how brands and individuals approach marketing during Pride month. We use this episode to unpack the following with Niko: 

• Why is rainbow capitalism so harmful to the queer community?

• Since we all know it's pandering, how exactly can brands/corporates show up for marginalized communities throughout the year (or ever)?

• Reminding people that Pride Month was originally about progress and protest.

• Who gets left out when brands and corporations control the narrative of Pride Month.

• Then we take a quick break for a segment where Ama chats with Muslim queer artist and writer Hana Shafi aka Frizz Kid about how individuals need to support queer artists 365 days a year, rather than one month.

• Finally, we play a game and we use an AI Generator to make our own Pride "merch" - you'll die laughing hearing the results and you need to check out what they look like on our Instagram.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

If you liked what you heard, maybe think about rating us!  You can also find all our social links by visiting our Lnk.Bio page. Heck, if you want - leave us a voicemail. We love to answer questions from our listeners or take suggestions about what you'd like us to cover. Maybe we'll even feature it in a future show!  Hell, if you even want to support us (we're a small team and a lot of work goes into what you hear today) then we would love it if you send us a few bucks via our Ko-Fi! All the money helps us with production costs and creating the podcast you hear today.

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Further Reading on this Topic!

1. How Marketers Mess Up Pride Month - Fast Company

2. The Best Part Of Pride Is Making Fun Of Rainbow Capitalism - Refinery 29

3. After Pride, corporations will "ditch these gays" but the harm will already be done - Salon

4. How LGBTQ Pride Month became a branded holiday - VOX

5. What Is Rainbow Capitalism, And Why Is It Bad - Defiant

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Support the show (https://ko-fi.com/highlowbrowpod)

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Click here for the full episode transcript.