In the early 90’s a gay man was a part of a focus group in Northampton, Mass. where he, maybe innocently, mentioned that all of his lesbian friends drove Subarus.
He brought up some valid points: how else would he have been able to spot other members in the LGBTQ community pre-Ellen DeGeneres coming out, Will & Grace quasi-normalizing their lives and rainbow knee-high socks being acceptable high school attire?
“Subaru spent more than a decade carefully targeting lesbian consumers,” Noelle King and Stacy Bannock Smith explained to AfterEllen.
Subaru made heavy strides to reach out to the lesbian community in 1993 after it discovered that lesbians were among Subaru’s largest consumer group. Cheeky license plates and taglines secured Subaru’s spot in the LGBTQ rolodex throughout the 2015 marriage equality national push in the U.S. as well.
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The LGBTQ community is a loyal group of consumers. The pink dollar is a real thing. Subaru is benefitting from that knowledge.
“Companies are more interested in the gay market than ever,” says John Aravosis, president of Wired Strategies. “They’re treating gay and lesbian employees with more respect than ever, and they’re becoming more aware that anti-gay prejudice is wrong.”
So, we took a look at some of Subaru’s loudest fans – just for the sake of evidence to all of the above. And it’s pretty adorable.
There's someone in Cleveland driving around with a vanity plate that says LESBARU on it and it always makes me smile.
— Kapusta Diamond (@KapustaDiamond) September 7, 2018
I am so very gay.
— Jess Shapiro (@transgingerjess) August 19, 2018
Part 2: a Subaru commercial came on and my mom whispered “lesbaru” to me
— rampaige 🦁 (@yeetpaige) January 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/TinoJ16/status/238793213987676161
What does being lesbian have to do with it???? That's crazy Ranae!!!
— Robin Clouse (@elvenlady) May 8, 2017
@shastanikita YESSSS 😍
— Anna Thorn (@annavthorn) November 21, 2014
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