• by Danielle Oster , Yesterday

There’s a lot of performative allyship during Pride Month, which tends to fade away with the month of June.

The U.K. arm of human rights organizationb Amnesty International, in collaboration with communications agency Shape History, launched a campaign calling on audiences to make their rainbow Pride gear actually have an impact. It revolves around a rainbow Pride bracelet the organization is awarding donors who give during the month of June—its attempt to avoid rainbow-washing tendencies.

“People want to wear rainbow bracelets during Pride – they’re visible, celebratory, and often part of how people show support. Rather than reject that impulse, we wanted to meet it with meaning. This bracelet directly funds Amnesty’s work to protect human rights around the world, so if someone’s going to wear one, let it be this one,” Shape History Associate Creative Director Zoe Dawson told Marketing Daily. “We saw the bracelet as a kind of receipt for real action, and a way to show the world what you stand for, and what you’re willing to do about it. In a landscape where rainbow-washing is all too common, that distinction matters.”

A campaign video and other messaging attempt to demonstrate that distinction, and the importance of allyship that goes beyond empty gestures to more meaningful advocacy.

“I think we are increasingly questioning the way that some people, and brands in particular, get to benefit from being seen as allies without taking any real risks. It often shows up in surface-level gestures, like the rainbow-ification of logos during Pride, without addressing the real, systemic challenges queer people face,” Dawson.

The campaign arrives at a time when many brands are avoiding or reducing even these kind of empty rainbowwashing gestures.

“And as those challenges worsen, particularly for the trans community right now, we’ve seen brands backtrack on Pride campaigns or pull out entirely when faced with backlash. This reveals the danger of allyship that only ‘performs’ when it’s fashionable to do so,” she added.

That backtracking has had a real impact on the finances of human rights organizations, too.

And in the U.K., attacks on LGBTQ+ rights are close to home. The campaign arrives amid existential threats to the rights of trans people in the country, in the wake of a Supreme Court decision employing no shortage of transphobic language, in which the court ruled that trans women are excluded from the definition of “women” as it pertains to the 2010 Equality Act.

Amnesty International’s Pride campaign has already surpassed 5,000 donations, halfway to its acquisition goal, according to Dawson. “Ideally, the campaign will build a deeper relationship with givers and help them understand the importance of Amnesty’s work,” she added. “With far-right discourse getting louder, we need allies – individuals, funders, and brands – who are willing to stand firm in the face of pressure and not let human rights become a political football.”