It catches my eye suddenly as I am leaving Orion after my thesis presentation: the rainbow flag flies at the Unilever building. What this has to do with Unilever is beyond me. But when I google ‘Unilever pride’, it becomes clear the company has joined the pride month of June. This concept has made its way to Europe from -of course- the United States, where every million-dollar business adopts a rainbow-coloured logo in the month of June. Anything to make their sales. Well-intended, no doubt, and as a person who is part of the LHBTI community, I am fine with it. It is a fine example of rainbow capitalism; the ‘coloured’ image a business gets by publicly supporting marginalised groups is good for profit.
Once an organisation issues a statement of support, it must continue to do so when criticised
There is probably a drawback: if the rainbow has a negative impact on profit, the support wanes. See, again, the United States, where the conservatives attempt to boycott businesses that have rainbow-coloured logos and products. Some businesses respond by moving these products to a less visible spot in their stores. Which, in turn, causes even more criticism. Once an organisation issues a statement of support, it must continue to do so when criticised.
The rainbow flag is a classic way to express your organisation’s values. The Dutch are crazy about flags: the upside-down national flag, the BBB flag and all manner of “farmer’s flags”, the Ukrainian flag, provincial and municipal flags and so forth. You can get creative and design variations, such as the Wageningen flag in Ukrainian colours. Or you can hoist three flags next to each other, like my neighbour. Sadly, there is not yet a flag for people and businesses who support the climate. Such a flag would be nice, especially now that there is so much focus on the issue. A flag to signal: I’m doing my best under the circumstances. An inverted BBB flag, for example, or a flag featuring an oat milk cappuccino.
WUR could fly a green flag. It would certainly provoke criticism
WUR does not fly a rainbow flag this month because the university is not a megacorporation with any rainbow-related products to sell. But it has a green product: green knowledge is our primary export product. WUR could fly a green flag. It would certainly provoke criticism. Good intentions are in abundant supply, but WUR dropped in the sustainable universities ranking this year. And friendly, spontaneous protests by climate activists are suppressed. Still, the green flag fits in perfectly with organisations wanting a positive image but failing to go all the way out of fear of losing profit. Returning to my thesis presentation: I have reason to hoist a flag, the Dutch flag. I obtained my bachelor’s degree!
Ilja Bouwknegt is 24, a Bachelor’s student in Forest and Nature Management, and he is active at study association WSBV Sylvatica, and sometimes conducts research on bats at night.
