fountainhall
April 19th, 2015, 10:13
Well, according to size, it ought to be China or India, two of the more unlikely countries given long-standing attitudes to the LGBT community. Unlikely or not, though, it is in fact China.
Ma Baoli, a former policeman, launched the gay dating mobile application Blued in 2012, after starting an online resource center for the LGBT community called Danlan.org. The app company has 60 employees and more than 15 million users, making it the largest platform of its kind in the world.
And itтАЩs not only in the numbers on a gay dating site which make the development of gay awareness in China interesting. According to Forbes magazine, the purchasing power of pink amounts to US$3 trillion annually. LGBT Capital, a venture-capital firm based in Hong Kong, estimates the figure for the Chinese market is $300 billion. Led by the e-commerce giant Alibaba, businesses in China are finally starting to show interest in the purchasing power of the LGBT market тАУ the тАЬpink yuanтАЭ it is sometimes called. Others have followed suit.
Taobao [a platform for small businesses founded by Alibaba in 2003] caused a stir in China on Feb. 14 with its same-sex-marriage-themed promotion тАЬWe Do.тАЭ It partnered with several LGBT non-governmental organizations тАФ including PFLAG China and the Beijing LGBT Center тАФ to send 10 same-sex couples on paid honeymoons to Los Angeles. The prize offered the winners the chance to marry legally in California.
Taobao also sold a line of LGBT-themed bedding in partnership with Shanghai Bliss Home Textile Co. and sold package holidays to five countries where same-sex marriage is legal. Those marriages would not be legally recognized in China, but an Alibaba spokesman said the aim of the promotion was to raise awareness and understanding of LGBT issues in the country . . .
Jacob Huang, the 26-year-old director of the Workplace Program at the Aibai Center, an LGBT rights advocacy group in the capital, said the promotion was a significant step forward for Chinese companies . . . Huang, who works with Chinese and foreign companies to boost equality and workplace inclusion, said only a few businesses in China have realized the importance of the pink dollar, but тАЬthe next five or 10 years will see an explosion.тАЭ
тАЬThey are also trying to test how tolerant the environment is, and how tolerant the media, the public and the Chinese government are on the LGBT subject,тАЭ he said.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chines ... 2015-03-19 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinese-businesses-eye-purchasing-power-of-lgbt-community-2015-03-19)
Ma Baoli, a former policeman, launched the gay dating mobile application Blued in 2012, after starting an online resource center for the LGBT community called Danlan.org. The app company has 60 employees and more than 15 million users, making it the largest platform of its kind in the world.
And itтАЩs not only in the numbers on a gay dating site which make the development of gay awareness in China interesting. According to Forbes magazine, the purchasing power of pink amounts to US$3 trillion annually. LGBT Capital, a venture-capital firm based in Hong Kong, estimates the figure for the Chinese market is $300 billion. Led by the e-commerce giant Alibaba, businesses in China are finally starting to show interest in the purchasing power of the LGBT market тАУ the тАЬpink yuanтАЭ it is sometimes called. Others have followed suit.
Taobao [a platform for small businesses founded by Alibaba in 2003] caused a stir in China on Feb. 14 with its same-sex-marriage-themed promotion тАЬWe Do.тАЭ It partnered with several LGBT non-governmental organizations тАФ including PFLAG China and the Beijing LGBT Center тАФ to send 10 same-sex couples on paid honeymoons to Los Angeles. The prize offered the winners the chance to marry legally in California.
Taobao also sold a line of LGBT-themed bedding in partnership with Shanghai Bliss Home Textile Co. and sold package holidays to five countries where same-sex marriage is legal. Those marriages would not be legally recognized in China, but an Alibaba spokesman said the aim of the promotion was to raise awareness and understanding of LGBT issues in the country . . .
Jacob Huang, the 26-year-old director of the Workplace Program at the Aibai Center, an LGBT rights advocacy group in the capital, said the promotion was a significant step forward for Chinese companies . . . Huang, who works with Chinese and foreign companies to boost equality and workplace inclusion, said only a few businesses in China have realized the importance of the pink dollar, but тАЬthe next five or 10 years will see an explosion.тАЭ
тАЬThey are also trying to test how tolerant the environment is, and how tolerant the media, the public and the Chinese government are on the LGBT subject,тАЭ he said.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chines ... 2015-03-19 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinese-businesses-eye-purchasing-power-of-lgbt-community-2015-03-19)