Navigating cultural moments in marketing

It’s Pride Month. And like many in our industry, we’ve been reflecting on what it means to show support, but also what it means to show up with intention.

Because in performance-driven marketing, intention matters. Every message lands in a broader context shaped by trends, timing, and audience expectations. What might look like a simple campaign decision on a media plan can quickly become a larger statement, whether the brand meant it that way or not.

How brands navigate the decision to speak and the messages those choices inevitably send has never been more important. Because behind every banner and paid placement is a strategy. And behind that strategy is a set of choices.

However, sometimes those choices become headlines.

This is where it gets complicated. A brand known for its irreverent, joy-first approach to pet products suddenly finds itself navigating the edge of a very public conversation. Earlier this month, a leaked Slack message revealed that BarkBox had made the call to pause all paid advertising and lifecycle marketing tied to its Pride-themed dog toy collection. The toys weren’t pulled. But the messaging stopped. 

According to leadership, the campaign had started to feel “more like a political statement than a universally joyful moment for all dog people.” That phrasing alone might have caused a stir. But it was what came next that lit the match: a direct comparison between Pride and and other polarizing public symbols.

It didn’t take long for the backlash to land. Screenshots circulated on Reddit, then X. LGBTQ+ advocates criticized the move as performative at best, cowardly at worst. Conservative influencers, meanwhile, initially applauded what they saw as a retraction only to turn sharply once the company responded publicly. 

BarkBox CEO Matt Meeker didn’t wait long to step in. His statement, published on social platforms within 24 hours, denounced the internal language as “disrespectful and hurtful.” He clarified that the leaked message didn’t reflect the company’s values, reaffirmed support for Pride, and announced that 100% of revenue from Pride products (not just a symbolic percentage) would be donated to Kaleidoscope Youth Center.

It was a strong gesture. One that mattered. But the original decision to pull paid marketing hadn’t been reversed. The toys were still available, but the campaign remained quiet. The apology was clear, the intent well-stated, the donation generous. Still, some couldn’t help but feel that something was missing, perhaps a lack of clarity about how and why that initial judgment call was made, and whether the pause reflected a moment of internal dissonance or something deeper.

It wasn’t silence, but it wasn’t full-throated support either. And that middle space is where most brands falter purely because they weren’t ready to say so with their whole chest.

BarkBox’s ill-timed pause didn’t happen in a vacuum. Across industries, brand missteps like this have played out of misalignment. Take Dior’s “We Are the Land” fragrance campaign. What was meant as a tribute to Native American culture turned into an accusation of appropriation. Even though consultants were involved, the timing and imagery didn’t sit right with many, and the brand had to quietly pull it back.

Or Peloton’s 2019 holiday spot, a seemingly innocuous gift exchange that was widely interpreted as reinforcing dated gender norms and body image issues. The backlash set off viral parody videos and shaved billions off the company’s market cap in a matter of days. The creative may have been well-produced, but the message missed the mark for the audience it wanted to engage.

Even Dove, long considered a leader in values-led branding, stumbled in 2017 with a short ad meant to highlight diversity. Instead, the execution was seen as racially insensitive, leading to quick apologies and the ad being taken down.

What these examples share isn’t just the backlash, but the speed and scale of it. In all three cases, the intent behind the campaign was overshadowed by the audience’s interpretation of it. When messaging that touches on identity, inclusion, or values lacks internal clarity or audience empathy, the fallout can be immediate and costly.

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The Paradox of Silence vs. Performative Moves

This is where it gets uncomfortable for marketers, for leadership, and frankly, for the audience.

The uncomfortable part isn’t just the backlash. It’s the slow realization that there is no safe zone anymore. Brands don’t get to sit this one out. When cultural moments arrive (and they always do) a decision not to engage is still a decision, and one that audiences will interpret for themselves.

In this moment, silence is almost never interpreted as neutrality. It’s a choice, and increasingly, it's seen as a choice not to engage.

That’s not just theory. Study after study shows that brand silence in moments of cultural tension leads to declines in brand trust, especially among Gen Z and Millennial audiences. According to Sprout Social, 70% of consumers say they want brands to take a stand on social issues, and nearly half expect action, not just words. Staying silent isn’t neutral anymore, it weakens credibility.

Yet the alternative, a quick, polished statement or in this case, a rainbow-logo update without substance, can feel just as hollow. Consumers know the difference, and they aren’t shy about calling it out.
That’s the performative trap. The campaign looks right, but the company behind it hasn’t done the work. No donations, no internal policies, no track record. In the best-case scenario, it reads as shallow. In the worst, it’s seen as manipulative and once the audience starts to see through you, they don’t come back.

The BarkBox moment is a textbook case. The messaging didn’t say “we’re against this,” but it didn’t say “we believe in this” either. In that gap, people filled in their own conclusions. Consumers, employees and influencers chose what they believed BarkBox stood for. Some were outraged. Others felt betrayed. No one felt clear.

And once the narrative slips out of your hands, it’s almost impossible to get it back. Every brand wants to believe that their audience “gets them.” But the truth is, if you don’t say it (clearly, consistently, and with action!) someone else will say it for you, and they may not be generous.

There’s no neat solution here, but the takeaway is clear: either show up fully or don’t show up at all. Half-measures, hesitation, or attempts to play both sides usually satisfy neither. And when you're marketing to emotionally intelligent, value-aware audiences, that’s a risk no performance brand can afford to take. Especially in industries where community and identity shape brand loyalty like lifestyle, wellness, pet care, or gaming, the line between message and mission can’t afford to blur. Consumers want to know what a brand stands for, and more importantly, if that stance holds up when it's tested.

Because it always will be.

What can we learn from this

To start, values can’t be a separate line item. They have to be embedded into the mechanics of the campaign from the creative logic to the way segmentation is structured. In our article “How to Start Monetization for Your Gaming App Without Sacrificing User Experience,” we’ve talked at length about balancing performance with user expectations. This is no different. A campaign that tries to bolt on messaging around a cultural moment without building it into the strategy will always feel like it’s trying too hard. And audiences feel that. The disconnect between what a brand says and how it behaves undermines trust as much as it hurts performance.

That’s why structure matters as much as sentiment. It’s not enough to care, you have to also plan like you care. And in performance marketing, that means knowing when to pause.

Of course, speed is a constant in this business. We’re often optimizing across channels, platforms, and creative iterations on tight turnarounds. Before any campaign goes live, especially those touching on sensitive or cultural topics, strategic speed is important, but never at the expense of integrity.The narrative, targeting, and creative should all move in sync, reflecting not just campaign goals but the brand’s core principles. When that alignment is off, performance may hold temporarily, but brand equity rarely does. 

Furthermore, iteration may be part of the DNA of modern campaigns, but it’s no substitute for strategic clarity. Messaging tied to identity, values, or social causes isn’t something to A/B test mid-flight. It needs strategic clarity from the outset. That means aligning client-side stakeholders, understanding audience sentiment, and being prepared to own the message throughout the lifecycle of the campaign.

It’s also worth acknowledging that backlash became a recurring pattern.  Just as fluctuations in CPM or attribution delays are accounted for, so too should the potential for public reaction. That means setting clear internal protocols, aligning on tone and timing, and preparing teams to act quickly and consistently. When response plans are built in from the start, brands are better equipped to protect both performance and trust when pressure hits.

Lastly, performance metrics can only tell us so much. CTR and ROAS might hit the target, but if the audience perceives inconsistency (if your campaign feels like it’s hedging, or trying to please both sides) that gap won’t show up on the dashboard immediately. But it will show up later: in drop-off rates, brand sentiment, and eventually, market positioning. As we wrote in our retargeting guide,  consistent message architecture is what keeps users engaged long after the first click. The same goes for values. How you show up during key moments sets the tone for every campaign that comes after.

Not Just A Campaign

At the end of the day, it’s about coherence. Audiences actually aren’t looking for perfection as much as for honesty. When your campaigns reflect the same values behind the scenes as they do in public, people notice. And they respond. It’s about showing up in a way that feels thoughtful, intentional, and consistent. Because in a space that moves fast and talks big, the brands that earn trust are the ones that walk steady.

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