When the clock strikes midnight on June 1 every year, countless corporations around the world change their social media icons to a rainbow-ified version of their logos to herald the start of Pride month, celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.
And pharmas aren’t immune: According to a Fierce Pharma Marketing review of the Instagram pages of about two dozen of the world’s biggest drugmakers, as of Wednesday, the majority have acknowledged Pride month in some way. For some, that simply means updating their avatar, as is the case for the newly pride flag-backed icons of Roche, Eli Lilly and Pfizer.
Others have gone a step further, sharing posts and videos on their Instagram feeds celebrating and showing support for their LGBTQ+ employees and patients.
Bristol Myers Squibb, for example, posted a series of photos in early June showing CEO Chris Boerner helping to raise a pride flag to fly underneath BMS’ own banner.
Novo Nordisk, too, shared snaps of the rainbow flag being raised outside several of its sites around the world, writing, “Our ambition is to cultivate an inclusive environment by tailoring policies and initiatives that specifically support the needs of our LGBTQ+ colleagues, and focus on the allyship and actions that drive everyday LGBTQ+ inclusion.” In line with that goal, the Danish pharma also announced in another Pride month post that it has updated its global parental leave policy to offer “a minimum of 14 weeks paid leave to all non-birthing parents globally, regardless of gender.”
Elsewhere, Merck MGaA reminisced with a carousel of photos showing its workers marching at pride parades across the U.S. and in Switzerland last year, pledging to “#EmbraceTheRainbow” and encouraging followers to “stay tuned for more posts from this year’s celebrations!”
Moderna also shared pics from multiple Pride celebrations in its offices and elsewhere. In the caption, the company noted that it recently hosted a talk by Alexander Roque, president and executive director of the Ali Forney Center—a New York City-based nonprofit offering shelter and healthcare service to homeless LGBTQ+ youth—to “speak with our colleagues and share ways to engage with and support the LGBTQ+ community.”
Many pharmas have created social media video series and other content this month specifically aimed at honoring their LGBTQ+ employees. Bayer, which earlier this year was one of the few drugmakers to share a post celebrating the annual Transgender Day of Visibility, kicked off a weekly video series in early June, with each installment featuring one of its workers recounting what “#BayerPride” means to them.
Amgen, meanwhile, created a video montage of 25 of its workers from across the globe declaring, “At Amgen, I belong,” and Novartis went in a similar direction, posting a video that opens with the words “We belong here” and includes interviews with several employees discussing the value of embracing their authentic identities at work.
Several AbbVie workers shared similar viewpoints about the importance of supporting the LGBTQ+ community in the Chicago pharma’s own video compilation while both Merck & Co. and Sanofi have each produced videos highlighting a single LGBTQ+ employee’s journey both in life and at work. In the respective videos, Merck’s Richard Liu discusses how losing a partner to AIDS inspired him to help others fight the disease, and Sanofi’s Jill Wuyts talks about realizing that coming out as trans could help inspire others to embrace their authentic identities, too.
Though Johnson & Johnson has yet to post about Pride month on its official Instagram page, the company’s Innovative Medicines branch marked the occasion on its account with an animated video celebrating the “Past, Present, Future” theme selected by its Open&Out employee resource group to honor this year’s Pride month celebrations.
According to the caption, “Past, Present, Future is not meant to merely capture a linear path or points in time in the J&J Open&Out journey, but also a homage to the fearless efforts of the thousands of employees—including LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies across the globe—who have pioneered to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion remain at our forefront.”
Also highlighting its LGBTQ-focused employee resource group was Gilead, which posted a video in early June that included both a rainbow graphic reading “Live Love Liberate” and a quote from Anthony Gutierrez, a leader within the ERG, noting that “Pride is more than a celebration of our diverse identities. It’s an anthem of resilience, love and liberation that echoes our commitment to inclusivity and belonging.”