BMW Clarifies Lack of Pride Month Rainbow in Middle East Social Media

BMW’s official corporate account on X said the quiet part out loud when someone dared to ask why the car company’s Middle East-facing logo had not been subjected to the same Pride-Month-rainbow-flag treatment as the logo seen in the United States: it wouldn’t be culturally acceptable there.

Libs of TikTok shared a series of screenshots showing several companies — including Cisco and BMW — that had adopted pride or rainbow-themed versions of their logos to display in the U.S. but had left their Middle East-facing logos alone.

“Every. Single. Year,” the caption read. “This will never not be funny.”

Every. Single. Year. This will never not be funny pic.twitter.com/BVj40itRxs

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 2, 2024

But then someone asked BMW, “How come you don’t proudly display your logos pride colors on your middle east posts ???”

And the response, if a bit unexpected, was obvious: “This is an established practice at the BMW Group, which also takes into consideration market-specific legal regulations and country-specific cultural aspects.”

This is an established practice at the BMW Group, which also takes into consideration market-specific legal regulations and country-specific cultural aspects (4/4)

— BMW (@BMW) June 1, 2024

Critics quickly pointed out that if BMW as a corporation was serious about solidarity rather than just capitalizing on the market share driven by virtue signaling, the pride-themed logo would be on full display especially in places where it was not culturally accepted.

“BMW: When you wanna be stunning, but not brave,” Mary Katherine Ham posted.

BMW: When you wanna be stunning, but not brave. https://t.co/lgDdXt9OSi

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) June 3, 2024

“‘We’re visibly pro-LGBT except where it’s unpopular to be visibly pro-LGBT’ sure is a thing to publicly admit to doing on your corporate social media account,” Noam Blum added.

“We’re visibly pro-LGBT except where it’s unpopular to be visibly pro-LGBT” sure is a thing to publicly admit to doing on your corporate social media account. https://t.co/ciEDBaCqwR

— Noam Blum (@neontaster) June 2, 2024

“Hey, LGB. BMW admits it uses you for profit and marketing. If it truly cared about gay rights it would change its logo in countries not friendly to gays,” Mary Chasten pointed out.

Hey, LGB. BMW admits it uses you for profit and marketing. If it truly cared about gay rights it would change its logo in countries not friendly to gays. https://t.co/E00Pebc6bR

— ⚾️ Mary #FlyTheW 🐻 (@mchastain81) June 2, 2024

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to display the logo where oppression against the LGBTQ+ community is highest? Otherwise, you’d just look patronising and as though you’re using our community for marketing purposes and not due to solidarity…” @TheVikingDane added.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to display the logo where oppression against the LGBTQ+ community is highest? Otherwise, you’d just look patronising and as though you’re using our community for marketing purposes and not due to solidarity… https://t.co/LA0dXE5ZPD pic.twitter.com/i7D7I6kUg0

— TheVikingDane (@TheVikingDane) June 2, 2024

“BMW admitting it only believes in what it considers to be human rights when it doesn’t offend the countries where human rights are actually on the line,” @sunnyright summed it up.

BMW admitting it only believes in what it considers to be human rights when it doesn’t offend the countries where human rights are actually on the line. https://t.co/eicGTO0icI

— Sunny (@sunnyright) June 2, 2024

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