Has Pride become more about consumerism than activism?

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Pride week in Vancouver will reach fever pitch Sunday afternoon, as the annual parade winds its way through the West End, entertaining hundreds of thousands of people packed along streets and sidewalks.

But not everyone is happy with how support for the Pride movement has changed over the years, pointing to what they see as slide toward consumerism instead of activism.

In the early days, it was seen as risky for a business to be loud and proud in support of Pride, but now it’s good business with companies spending tens of thousands of dollars to sponsor festivals, and that has led a local columnist to wonder if Pride has lost its activist roots.

“Have LGBTQ festivals become so mainstream, popular and business-friendly that they’ve lost their original vision?” asks the Vancouver Sun’s Douglas Todd.

You be the judge.

This year’s corporate sponsors at Vancouver Pride include the returning TD Bank, Bud Light, Nordstrom, PetSmart, BMW and HomeSense.

And look at some of the companies that have sponsored or taken part in Pride in London — Microsoft, Facebook, Proctor and Gamble, KPMG, BP and BAE Systems, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of weaponry and munitions — all looking to for a piece of the Pride pie.

“Has Pride been lost — to commercialism?” writes Todd.

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