Cody Hays, Chelsea Julian Reynolds
This study explores how queer people respond to androcentric and heteronormative representations in marketing and advertising content for outdoor brands. Using a novel qualitative research method we call "walking focus groups," this research examines barriers, gendered norms, and the role of strategic communication in reclaiming queer relationships with nature. We held five walking focus groups-semi-structured interviews with 17 participants in the desert southwest. These conversations illuminated how U.S. outdoor lifestyle brands alienate queer consumers, while at the same constructing a script about socially-acceptable LGBTQ+ lifestyles in branded content. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from queer ecology and critical approaches to strategic communications, we underscore how access to the outdoors is framed in media through lenses of access and capital rooted in whiteness, able-bodiedness, masculinity, and good health.