Terms associated with the queer community, like pink money, have shown the importance of queer people within an economy and a society. Queerbaiting has brought the spending power of the queer community to light, and businesses make economic decisions that promote and support the queer community and its representation that ultimately entices the pink dollar. Although greater awareness for queer people is a positive side effect of queerbaiting, typical depictions of the queer community within advertisements include homogenous white middle-class individuals/couples.
Various businesses and corporations, such as Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's, and Tylenol have showcased queer people and queer families in advertisements, helping to normalize and increase awareness surrounding the queer community. That is why, according to media researcher Eve Ng, the ambiguous sexuality projected by twentieth-century entertainers such as David Bowie, Elton John and Madonna was not scrutinized to the same degree as that of their successors.
However, the same societal shift has also increased expectations by queer fans as to the quality and authenticity of queer representation-they demand not just any representation at all, but rather "respectful and meaningful depictions" of their relationships. The suggestion-but not the reality." Rose Bridges summarized the practice's effect on queer fans as receiving "just enough to keep us interested, but not enough to satisfy us and make us truly represented." Societal shifts Īccording to media scholars, the perceived increase in queerbaiting reflects a shift towards a more positive perception of queer relationships in modern societies-and therefore, in a sense, societal progress. Emmet Scout wrote that "queerbaiting works on its audience because it offers the suggestion that queer people do have a vital place in these stories, that they might even be the defining figures, the heroes. Queer fans consider queerbaiting as "a way to throw us a bone when we normally wouldn't have anything, to acknowledge that we're there in the audience when the powers that be would prefer to ignore us".
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For instance, Glee, a series with many queer series regulars, was criticized by fans for presenting "superficial stereotypes of queerness for dramatic effect". įans have derided, for instance, queer characters being used as plot devices rather than as characters for their own sake. Queer fans have reacted with concern and anger to an identity they consider defining being used as a mere marketing ploy, a plaything for creatives, a mark of "edginess", or a commodity.
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