Editing LGBTQ community (section)

==Buying power==
{{Globalize|date=June 2023|2=US}}{{main|Pink money}}
According to Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc. and Marketresearch.com, the 2006 buying power of [[United States]] gays and lesbians was approximately $660 billion and was then expected to exceed $835 billion by 2011.<ref>PRNewswire. "Buying Power of US Gays and Lesbians to Exceed $835 Billion by 2011". January 25, 2007</ref> Gay consumers can be very loyal to specific brands, wishing to support companies that support the gay community and also provide [[Social equality|equal rights]] for [[LGBTQ]] workers. In the UK, this buying power is sometimes abbreviated to "the [[pink pound]]."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hicklin|first=Aaron|date=27 September 2012|title=Power of the pink pound|work=[[The Financial Times]]|url=https://www.ft.com/content/a3a5d9be-0788-11e2-92b5-00144feabdc0|url-status=live|access-date=4 March 2021|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421002829/https://www.ft.com/content/a3a5d9be-0788-11e2-92b5-00144feabdc0}}</ref>

According to an article by James Hipps, LGBTQ Americans are more likely to seek out companies that advertise to them and are willing to pay higher prices for premium products and services. This can be attributed to the median household income compared to same-sex couples to opposite-sex couples, as they are twice as likely to have graduated from college, twice as likely to have an individual income over $60,000 and twice as likely to have a household income of $250,000 or more.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hipps|first1=James|date=24 August 2008|title=The Power of Gay: Buying Power That Is|url=http://www.gayagenda.com/2008/08/the-power-of-gay-buying-power-that-is|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417135132/http://www.gayagenda.com/2008/08/the-power-of-gay-buying-power-that-is|archive-date=17 April 2010|access-date=5 July 2015|website=gayagenda.com}}</ref>

===Consumerism===
{{Main|Pink capitalism}}
Although many claims that the LGBTQ community is more affluent when compared to heterosexual consumers, research has proven that false.<ref name="Miller2">Miller, Richard K. and Kelli Washington. 2014. " PART IX: SEGMENTATION: Chapter 60: GAY & LESBIAN CONSUMERS." Consumer Behavior. 326–333.</ref> However, the LGBTQ community is still an important segment of consumer demographics because of the spending power and loyalty to brands that they have.<ref name="Um2">{{cite journal|last1=Um|first1=Nam-Hyun|date=2012|title=Seeking the holy grail through gay and lesbian consumers: An exploratory content analysis of ads with gay/lesbian-specific content|journal=Journal of Marketing Communications|volume=18|issue=2|pages=133–149|doi=10.1080/13527266.2010.489696|s2cid=167786222}}</ref> Witeck-Combs Communications calculated the adult LGBTQ buying power at $830 billion for 2013.<ref name="Miller2" /> Same-sex partnered households spend slightly more than the average home on any given shopping trip.<ref name="Soat2">Soat, Molly. 2013. "[http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c9163a92-4133-40a8-97c1-0204940392ad%40sessionmgr114&vid=2&hid=107 Demographics in the Modern Day]." Marketing News, 47 (9). 1p.</ref> But, they also make more shopping trips compared to the non-LGBTQ households.<ref name="Soat2" /> On average, the difference in spending with same-sex partnered home is 25 percent higher than the average United States household.<ref name="Soat2" /> According to the University of Maryland gay male partners earn $10,000 less on average compared to heterosexual men.<ref name="Miller2" /> However, partnered lesbians receive about $7,000 more a year than heterosexual married women.<ref name="Miller2" /> Hence, same-sex partners and heterosexual partners are about equal concerning consumer affluence.<ref name="Miller2" />

The LGBTQ community has been recognized for being one of the largest consumers in travel. Travel includes annual trips, and sometimes even multiple annual trips. Annually, the LGBTQ community spends around $65 billion on travel, totaling 10 percent of the United States travel market.<ref name="Miller2" /> Many common travel factors play into LGBTQ travel decisions, but if there is a destination that is especially tailored to the LGBTQ community, then they are more likely to travel to those places.<ref name="Miller2" />

===Marketing===
{{Main|LGBT marketing}}
Marketing towards the LGBTQ community was not always a strategy among advertisers. For the last three to four decades, Corporate America has created a market niche for the LGBTQ community. Three distinct phases define the marketing turnover: 1) shunning in the 1980s, 2) curiosity and fear in the 1990s, and 3) pursuit in the 2000s.<ref name="Oakenfull2">{{cite journal|last1=Oakenfull|first1=Gillian|date=2012|title=Gay Consumers and Brand Usage: The Gender-Flexing Role of Gay Identity|journal=Psychology & Marketing|volume=29|issue=12|pages=968–979|doi=10.1002/mar.20578}}</ref>

In recent years, marketing oriented towards the LGBTQ dynamic has increased. With a spike in same-sex marriage in 2014, marketers are figuring out new ways to tie in a person's sexual orientation to a product being sold.<ref name="Soat2" /> In efforts to attract members of the LGBTQ community to their products, market researchers are developing marketing methods that reach these new families.<ref name="Soat2" /> Advertising history has shown that when marketing to the family, it was always the wife, the husband, and the children.<ref name="Soat2" /> But today, that is not necessarily the case. There could be families of two fathers or two mothers with one child or six children. Breaking away from the traditional family setting, marketing researchers notice the need to recognize these different family configurations.<ref name="Soat2" />

One area that marketers are subject to fall under is stereotyping the LGBTQ community. When marketing towards the community, they may corner their target audience into an "alternative" lifestyle category that ultimately "others" the LGBTQ community.<ref name="Soat2" /> Sensitivity is important when marketing towards the community. When marketing towards the LGBTQ community, advertisers respect the same boundaries.

Marketers also refer to LGBTQ as a single characteristic that makes an individual.<ref name="Soat2" /> Other areas can be targeted along with the LGBTQ segment such as race, age, culture, and income levels.<ref name="Soat2" /> Knowing the consumer gives these marketers power.<ref name="Um2" />

Along with attempts to engage with the LGBTQ community, researchers have found gender disagreements among products with respective consumers.<ref name="Oakenfull2" /> For instance, a gay male may want a more feminine product, whereas a lesbian female may be interested in a more masculine product. This does not hold for the entire LGBTQ community, but the possibilities of these differences are far greater.<ref name="Oakenfull2" /> In the past, gender was seen as fixed, and a congruent representation of an individual's sex. It is understood now that sex and gender are fluid separately. Researchers also noted that when evaluating products, a person's biological sex is as equal is a determinant as their self-concept.<ref name="Oakenfull2" /> As a customer response, when the advertisement is directed towards them, gay men and women are more likely to have an interest in the product.<ref name="Um2" /> This is an important factor and goal for marketers because it indicates future loyalty to the product or brand.