Queerbaiting: Pretending or hinting that you may be LGBT+, in order to trick people into liking you more, or to pay more attention to you or your work. Sometimes this is a way to try to get LGBT+ fans, sometimes it’s trying to get straight people who think LGBT+ people/acts are sexy.
Arc, as in story arc of a tv show or book series: So, it’s for a set period of time, and then they move on, not really acknowledging again.
There are different levels of scummy that are considered socially acceptable, and some marketing doesn’t rely on tricking you.
Think of the different ads you’ve seen:
“Our furniture is locally made by unionized workers. Everything is made using young trees that we grow ourselves, or reclaimed wood”
Is different than:
“On Friday, our pasta is buy one get one free”
Is very different than:
“Hey gay, it’s June. You know what that means? It’s time for us to change our logo to include a rainbow and maybe even have an ad (in some countries) with two woman who might be married if you read between the lines. Maybe you can ignore that we donate money to political groups that are anti-LGBT, or that we fire queer people at a higher rate than straight people.”
Or
“Hey kids, I’m a clown! Your parents don’t love you if they don’t buy Clown brand bleach. Kids without Clown brand bleach are poor, unlovable losers, and they’ll never have any friends. Now in comes in cherry, and blue raspberry!”
Queerbaiting: Pretending or hinting that you may be LGBT+, in order to trick people into liking you more, or to pay more attention to you or your work. Sometimes this is a way to try to get LGBT+ fans, sometimes it’s trying to get straight people who think LGBT+ people/acts are sexy.
Arc, as in story arc of a tv show or book series: So, it’s for a set period of time, and then they move on, not really acknowledging again.
Pop acts have done this a lot.
Isn’t that just marketing?
People generally look down on pretending to be a minority for financial gain.
Isn’t that just marketing?
There are different levels of scummy that are considered socially acceptable, and some marketing doesn’t rely on tricking you.
Think of the different ads you’ve seen:
“Our furniture is locally made by unionized workers. Everything is made using young trees that we grow ourselves, or reclaimed wood”
Is different than:
“On Friday, our pasta is buy one get one free”
Is very different than:
“Hey gay, it’s June. You know what that means? It’s time for us to change our logo to include a rainbow and maybe even have an ad (in some countries) with two woman who might be married if you read between the lines. Maybe you can ignore that we donate money to political groups that are anti-LGBT, or that we fire queer people at a higher rate than straight people.”
Or
“Hey kids, I’m a clown! Your parents don’t love you if they don’t buy Clown brand bleach. Kids without Clown brand bleach are poor, unlovable losers, and they’ll never have any friends. Now in comes in cherry, and blue raspberry!”
Oh they’re pretending? Yea that’s not particularly great