During Pride Month, companies have joined in on the rainbow-themed festivities. While it may seem like innocent fun, and even allyship, rainbow capitalism or rainbow-washing can be damaging.

The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ+ Studies defines rainbow capitalism as the use of LGBTQ+ symbology and language by companies to gain favor and profits from the LGBTQ+ community and their allies while using such virtue signaling to mask internal issues.

A Forbes article from last year asked the two difficult questions in researching this subject: Why is it a problem? And where is the line between it and ethical business practice?

The article said the problem primarily lies in businesses not practicing what they preach regarding the LGBTQ+ community. This may look like launching a line of rainbow-hued products that solely line the company’s pockets and are not designed by LGBTQ+ people.

According to the professors in economics, marketing and business who were interviewed by Forbes, an ethical company would look to uplift the voices of those in the community by hiring them and donating profits from Pride collections to LGBTQ+ nonprofits. They also discussed the importance of internal support for LGBTQ+ employees and training those outside the LGBTQ+ communities on how to best support their colleagues.

Just because a company totes around Pride collections doesn’t mean they have gender neutral bathrooms available to their employees. As people navigate this newfound strategy companies use to line their pockets, a little bit of research can go a long way in true support of the LGBTQ+ community.