Absolut-ely everyone is welcome
A long-time ally, Absolut is proud to count more than 40 years of advocacy within the LGBTQIA+ culture and community. Drawing on consumer insights about the importance of Chosen Family in the LGBTQIA+ community, in February 2022 Absolut launched its largest ever Pride campaign, “Here’s to the family you choose.” Celebrating inclusivity and self-expression, the campaign emphasises the importance of safe spaces and family-like support systems.
A long history of support
From placing ads in LGBTQIA+ magazines in the 1980s when many other corporations wouldn’t dare, to working with noted community artists - including Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Tom Ford - Absolut is no stranger to the LGBTQIA+ movement. A long-standing partner of charities including the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Stonewall, and the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Absolut is hard at work supporting the LGBTQIA+ community and offering them products and experiences that resonate with them. While many people consider their closest friends their “Chosen Family,” the term has a more powerful meaning in the LGBTQIA+ community. After conducting consumer research, which confirmed that many people from the LGBTQIA+ community still experience rejection from their biological families, Absolut was inspired to create a campaign around the concept of Chosen Family. This “Chosen Family” support system provides safe spaces of acceptance, and is critical for individuals lacking familial support. The “Here’s to the family you choose,” campaign which was created with partners from the LGBTQIA+ community, reflects the importance of acceptance and love. In addition to the release of an Absolut Rainbow 2.0 limited edition bottle, co-created with the Gilbert Baker Foundation, the campaign celebrates the diversity and richness of the LGBTQIA+ community, shining a light on the variety of ways you can define “family”- much like Absolut itself, a family can come in a variety of flavours.
Diversity as a strength
To ensure an authentic message, the project was created with partners from the LGBTQIA+ community who were intimately involved in its conceptualization. “Power, not pity” was Absolut’s guiding principle for the campaign, the goal being to represent acceptance and love in a different way from traditional advertisements. The campaign equally pays tribute to the pivotal role bars and clubs have been playing in the lives of this community, acting as spaces of belonging, gathering and activism. These venues, emerging battered but unbowed from the pandemic, are saluted as heroes of inclusivity in their own right.
Absolut has long been a catalyst in mixing things up, bringing people together from all walks of life to enjoy connections, to embrace shared values and to welcome diversity in spaces open to all. In the spirit of a spirit born to mix, “Here’s to the family you choose” shows the power in the freedom of being true to yourself.