IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK: Golden Gaytime loses it’s golden touch

It seems as though iconic Australian ice-cream brand Golden Gaytime has lost its gold star! This week a member of the LGBTQIA+ community known solely as Brian Me, began a petition to have the name of the brand changed insisting the outdated meaning behind the term “gay” no longer applies within society.

A spokesperson for Streets, Golden Gaytime’s parent company, insisted Golden Gaytime was introduced to the Australian market in 1959, when the word “gay” had not yet been applied to gender preference. The name was innocently created to reflect on the “joyous” experience of indulging in an ice-cream for those who love ice-cream a waffle lot!

In an interesting turn of events, other members of the LGBTQIA+ community responded in an ice-cold manner, assuring consumers that the term “gay” is not a slur and that in fact, the association with the ice cream is a positive for gay Australians.

High-profile gay social media influencer Kurt Coleman tweeted “AS IF you’d rename GoldenGayTime ice cream…No one cares…I’m gay and never questioned it, it’s an ice cream hun. Get over it.” Another commented, “Gaytimes are iconically Australian and it’s only fitting that a country that hosts the world’s largest LGBTQIA+ street parade has an ice cream that is equally as GAY! It deserves to be celebrated not hated!”

Although Brian Me put in gelato effort in bringing attention to the issue, the petition to keep the original name has received 485 more signatures than the one against it.

Over the past year, the cancel culture stance has taken centre stage across social platforms with the ease of social media allowing for damaging footage to resurface and opinions to be shared. It has left many iconic brands forced to reconsider their alleged “offensive” branding including Coon Cheese and Redskins. From a PR perspective, it would seem the most favourable action to keep the name the same to maintain a positive reputation for the brand. Our role as a PR Agency is to protect our client’s reputation in everything we do. We’ve seen first-hand the importance of listening to the minority groups who speak the loudest, tending to successfully inspire change.

After this week’s backlash on Brian Me’s efforts however, the question remains the same, has “cancel culture” reached unnecessary heights?

By Sarah Meenan – PR and Influencer Executive at InsideOut PR and #AsSeenON