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LLYC has prepared a comprehensive must-read report on the rise of “Rainbow Ghosting” which it defines as the progressive withdrawal of public support for diversity.
The initial “love bombing” toward the LGBTIQ+ via messages and gestures of commitment gradually lost continuity, became seasonal or faded away.
Only two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies that had active DEI programs in 2023 have them today.
Eighty-five percent of DEI changes at universities deal with closures, cancellations, weakening measures or downward revisions.
Using Big Data, AI and natural language tools, LLYC analyzed 15.1M news articles, 202M messages on X and more than 4.6M pieces of violent content in the dozen countries where it operates.
It found that print and digital coverage of diversity has fallen 2.5 percent quarter over quarter since 2021. Coverage has become concentrated in the second quarter of the year leading up to Pride Month.
Though the LGBTIQ+ community continues to speak and mobilize, the ecosystem that supports it is responding with less frequency.
The study found that conversations on X about the LGBTIQ+ community have dropped by half to 12.7M compared to 26.1M in 2023.
Hate speech has filled some of the gap. It increased in eight of the 10 countries covered by the report, rising by an average 38 percent.
Hostile language has also mutated. Aggression circulates not as explicit insults but is camouflaged under such guises as protecting children, defending the traditional family or resisting ideological impositions.
The report concludes that responding to Pride today is not only about amplifying its visibility.
“It means helping ensure that the representation of LGBTIQ+ people remains open, complex, and oriented toward the future.
“Keeping the conversation open does not mean speaking without pause. It means making sure that, when someone enters the conversation, they find room to be recognized, to act, and to build what comes next.”
Read the report and get to work.
Kudos to the Wall Street Journal editorial page for pointing out that a quarter of America’s men’s World Cup team was not born in the USA.
Many players also are first- or second-generation Americans with diverse backgrounds. Their parents come from Ghana, Liberia, Mexico, Nigeria and Croatia.
The Journal highlighted striker and birthright US citizen Folarin Balogun, the hero of USA’s victory over Paraguay. His Nigerian mother gave birth to her son in Brooklyn while visiting America. Two months later, she returned with Folarin to London, where he grew up.
President Trump is hellbent on doing away with birthright citizenship, which means future USA teams could be deprived of the world’s top talent.
The WSJ praised the unexpected success of Team USA, which is “a product in part of America’s historically welcoming immigration system and automatic grant of birthright citizenship to children born in the US.” Well said.
BTW, the team is coached by Mauricio Pochettino, who was born in Argentina.
Deciding which fans are best for brands. The global sports and sponsorship market is booming. It is expected to grow from $92B to $156B in 2032.
Omnicom believes it has solved the old conundrum of deciding which fans are best for brands to connect with.
At Cannes, it unveiled the Acxiom Fan Graph that connects marketing intelligence across media, commerce and consumer engagement from 260M US consumers and 2.6B global ones.
Omnicom says it helps marketers optimize audience planning, creative development, media activation, commerce opportunity, sponsorship strategy, athletic representation and partnership and measurement through a single connected view of fans.
George Manas, Omnicom’s chief growth and solutions officer, said “Fan Graph’s unified view of fandom helps brands better understand their audiences, activate them more effectively and measure the impact of sports investments with greater precision and accountability.”
It can also warn marketers about the perils of aligning with fans of my favorite team, the New York Mets. They are in surly moods these days.
New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel, is more popular among American Jews than prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu... Donald Trump is the first leader since Benito Mussolini in 1934 to intervene publicly in his national team’s favor... It's surprising that JD Vance hardly uses the word "Catholic" in his memoir about his conversion to Catholicism.
President Trump killed much of the positive PR that the US has enjoyed as one of the co-hosts of the World Cup... Pride in the US sinks to 25-year low, Gallup finds... White House trashes Smithsonian's US History Museum as the MAGA version of un-American.
Donald Trump claims we are all profiting from Wall Street's rising prices, but the billion-dollar president sure did a lot better than the rest of us... Venezuela hopes the $300M in US reconstructiion aid will follow the same growth trajectory as the White House's East Wing ballroom project.
Brands need to boost their PR to get noticed in today’s AI-oriented world, according to McKinsey & Co.’s “State of the Consumer 2026” report... Reevemark hits Chambers jackpot. All five of the founding partners of New York strategic communications firm were recognized in the prestigious Chambers and Partners rankings... SpaceX's $25B bond sale on the heels of $86B IPO signals that markets are entering “bubble territory.” 
The Washington Post's surveillance pricing policy isn't good for its transparency, credibility... Iran shouldn't hold its breath waiting for its $300B reconstuction fund... CEOs are bullish on sales growth, capital expenditures, not so much on hiring.
