To measure the potential of LGBTQ market in India and understanding the factors affecting the brand positioning of companies

Abstract

The LGBT community accounts for about 3.4% of the total population of the USA (Gates, 2011). A report by Gallup suggests this percentage to have risen to 4.1% by 2016 in the USA. As per different researchers and reports, the LGBTQ community members across globe lie in the ranges from 2% to 13% of the total population (TOI, 2009). Although not much research is available in Indian context, still if one extrapolates above mentioned research in Indian context and takes most conservative estimate of 2%, assuming queerness is universal, still the number goes beyond 25 million. It is evident that with estimated approximate population of the LGBTQ community running in multi millions in India, the industry would recognise the community as an important target segment. The social structure of India has been largely un-accepting of same sex relationships and been discriminatory towards individuals identifying as LGBTQ. The legal side of it i.e. prevalence of section 377 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has also been a major hurdle for the LGBTQ community. Section 377 of IPC criminalises acts of unnatural sex which are interpreted as all sort of penetration other than penile-vaginal intercourse by Honourable Supreme Court of India (2013). In wake of such social and legal conditions only a very few LGBTQ community members were out and open about their sexuality in the country for a long time. The LGBTQ movement in the nation to repeal section 377 and subsequent court case by Naz Foundation (India) brought discussions around LGBTQ in the mainstream. Delhi High Court’s judgment in 2009 striking down section 377 was a landmark judgement and it changed landscape to a significant extent prompting many individuals to come out. This period also saw emergence of LGBTQ targeted services like travel and tourism, hotels among others. The scenario changed once again after Honourable Supreme Court recriminalized homosexuality in 2013 setting aside Delhi High Court’s order. Despite changed legal environment post 2013, various brands have come up with pro-LGBTQ advertisements in India. To name a few EBay, Myntra, Vicks, Coca Cola and Close Up have released advertisements portraying LGBTQ characters in their advertisements. Although most of these are available on internet only and not telecast on television, the reach of such advertisements is significant among social media connected individuals. Intrigued by pro-LGBTQ advertisements, we chose this topic as research project to understand reasons and factors which contributed to such a change in positioning of various companies and gauge its effect on potential customers specially LGBTQ community members. Emergence of LGBTQ community as target segment can be seen from two perspectives – First, emergence of product and services dedicated or purely targeted towards the community and second, positioning by brands to target the community by inclusive messages through promotions. Thus while the former explore industries like travel and tourism industry or online marketplace business, the latter shall explore promotional strategies adopted by various brands like Fastrack, Vicks etc. This segregation is the basis of first two verticals of our project objectives. The third vertical shall explore the impact of pro-queer positioning on prospective customers especially on the target LGBTQ community.