Montclair Social Media Study: Pride Month and LGBTQ Branding Backlash Driven Largely by QAnon and Popular Extremists

在一项68人的合作研究中,481 posts on Twitter (recently rebranded as X) from 2022, 十大博彩推荐排名州立大学 faculty identified the most influential accounts pushing the narrative that Disney is “grooming” (i.e. sexually manipulating) children by its support and inclusion of the LGBTQ community. The findings are timely as Target and other corporations are scaling back or eliminating Pride Month activities this June, driven by backlash companies have received in recent years.  数据从 公关日常 suggests some 30% of consumer goods companies will be making changes to their Pride observances this June based on concerns about this backlash.  像这样, this research project offers context for the most influential voices driving social media advocacy against LGBTQ inclusion in the corporate space.      

Highlights of the study recently published in the 犯罪、媒体与文化杂志 包括:

•  The impact of the posts engaged with the most (including comments) were  Jack Posobiec, 迈克Cernovich, 小唐纳德·特朗普.和《十大博彩推荐排名》.
• The four accounts sharing “inclusion is grooming” content with the greatest reposts and “favorites” also included content from Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Walsh.

• A strong connection to the QAnon conspiracy (that an organized cabal of “elites” is harming children) was identified in the accounts producing the most significant visibility of the message.  
• Accounts critical of LGBTQ inclusion that previously shared QAnon sentiment represented:

• 80%的最受关注的账户
• 80% of the accounts with the highest “impact” (total number of posts an account produced on a topic multiplied by the total number of followers)
• 71% of accounts producing the most liked content
• 57% of accounts producing the most shared content

• Total posts on this theme collected from March 13, 2022, 至五月十六日, 2022, 网共322条,832,159个潜在印象, 受知名账户的驱动.
• The full study, which is the seventeenth from the Montclair team at Joetta Di Bella和Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication, is found 在这里. 

The study’s authors express concern about the effects of such messages.

“’Grooming’ is a term that extremists and conspiracy theorists have co-opted from the anti trafficking movement, and it’s now being used against the LGBTQ community,”医生说。. Daniela Peterka-Benton, Academic Director of the Global Center on Human Trafficking at Montclair.

据博士说. 乔尔Penney, an Associate Professor in the 传播与媒体学院 at Montclair, this represents an ongoing “model of framing the sheer existence of LGBTQ people as in在这里ntly sexualized and thus inappropriate.”

“What seems to be an organic movement against the LGBTQ community appears to be guided by a small number of extremist voices with outsized social media reach,”医生说。. 债券本顿, Professor of Public Relations in the 传播与媒体学院 and researcher at the Joetta Di Bella和Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication.

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关于传播与媒体学院: The 传播与媒体学院 offers a range of dynamic programs in communication and media to a talented and diverse student population of over 1,800. 提供电影和电视学位, 社会媒体和公共关系, 广告, 新闻与数字媒体, 体育交流, 传播与媒体研究, 动画和视觉效果, and an MA devoted to strategic communication, the School prepares the next generation of communication and media practitioners and leaders. The School houses award-winning student programs that include 赛事中广播, 的Montclarion 报纸,  鹰通信 机构, 红鹰体育网, 鹰+ OTT流媒体平台，以及 新闻实验室，以及 合作媒体中心, which serves the public by working to grow and strengthen local journalism. Student projects and programs have recently received national recognition from PRSSA’s Bateman Competition, 爱德华R莫罗奖, 多次获得马可尼奖提名, and a College Television Award from the Academy of Television Arts & 科学.

关于全球人口贩运中心: The Global Center on Human Trafficking is a multi-disciplinary effort focused on developing innovative solutions to the global problem of human trafficking. 十大博彩推荐排名州立大学, one of the most diverse higher education institutions in the United States, has a history of supporting social justice and human rights issues affecting communities across the world. It is dedicated to mobilizing collective action to develop novel solutions to the complex problems of human trafficking so that all people may live free from human trafficking.

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Contact: Keith Green, 传播与媒体学院, 973-655-3701 or greenk@0933282516.com