How a Brand can Balance Authenticity and Advocacy in PR

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Evolution from Representation to Responsibility

Public relations is continuing to shift as brands make gestures that lean toward genuine advocacy. The American Airlines case exemplifies the company's LGBTQ+ inclusion before it became mainstream. Proactive engagement with lesbian and gay communities redefined diversity as an internal value rather than merely an external topic for discussion (Gieszck, 2016). In comparison, Bud Light for decades has shown similar visibility backfires when the public lacks authenticity. When the company collaborated with Dylan Mulvaney, the partnership was a step towards inclusivity. The Busch’s reaction created immense backlash regarding the crisis of consistency instead of messaging (Ragan’s PR Daily, 2023).

Each of these shows how expectations have evolved, highlighting that visibility alone is insufficient for authentic advocacy. According to Pew Research (2022), 60% of adults believe corporations need to have a stance on social issues; however, trust vanishes when actions are profit-driven and inconsistent. 

Authentic Advocacy as Strategic Imperative

The campaigns, such as Love is Love and Barbie Mattel, and the rebranding demonstrate how authenticity can rebuild a reputation for the future. The love campaign leveraged that Fort Lauderdale is an LGBTQ+ vacation spot for people to come together. Emphasizing love and community instead of politics shows how Fort Lauderdale is framed as inclusivity for tourism, which connects with audiences globally. The transformation of Barbie aligns with the decades of criticism and the new focus of empowerment and representation. The campaign integrated feminism with humor, which established the brand as an icon and a way of expression (Luttrell & Welch, 2023).

Each of these campaigns showed strategic empathy, which is an approach that blends the audience with storytelling, understanding, and cultural awareness.

These successes reinforce the argument from Coombs (2019) that communication of authenticity requires reputation, identity, and image. Successful brands can’t manage communities or crises; they listen and grow. Authenticity becomes a strategic advantage and ethical stance for them.

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Lesson for Practitioners

These cases together show how inclusivity isn’t a gesture once, but it’s a continuous commitment. Regardless if companies face backlashes, credibility defines consistency. Each of these brands needs to focus on releasing statements for cultural practices to ensure that inclusion is their core value. The continuous rise of expectations and authenticity determines the future for communication.

Keywords/Tags: #LGBTQ+, #Authenticity, #BrandReputation, #CrisisCommunication, #EthicalPR

References 

Coombs, W. T. (2019). Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Gieszck, E. (2016). A corporate coming out: Crisis communication and engagement with LGBT publics. Case Studies in Strategic Communication, 5, 153–172.

Luttrell, R., & Welch, C. (2023). Everything Barbie all at once: A marketing campaign for the ages. Case Studies in Strategic Communication, 12, 16–24.

Pew Research Center. (2022). Most Americans say it’s acceptable for companies to take public stances on social issues. https://www.pewresearch.org/

Ragan’s PR Daily. (2023). Bud Light’s brand lesson: When authenticity is questioned, loyalty falters. https://www.prdaily.com/