Ohio Communication Journal Volume 55 – February 2017, pp. 146-164 _____________________________ M. Olguta Vilceanu (Ph.D., Temple University) is an Associate Professor at Rowan University, College of Communication and Creative Arts. Alison N. Novak (Ph.D., Drexel University) is an Assistant Professor at Rowan University, College of Communication and Creative Arts. Direct inquiries to vilceanu@rowan.edu. Love, Brands, and Marriage: Audience Reception of LGBT Instagram Posts after the 2015 Supreme Court Ruling on Same-sex Marriage M. Olguta Vilceanu Alison N. Novak After the Supreme Court's decision to extend marriage benefits to LGBTQ couples across the country, prominent brands turned to social networks to share their support and enthusiasm. Images of same-sex couples, equality, and traditional LGBTQ symbols promoted positive brand associations with current events and the larger American culture. Social media users made sense of these politicized messages by engaging in communication with the brands, and with each other. Discursive themes centered around the opportunistic versus authentic nature of the campaign relative to personal values, civics, and religious beliefs. Introduction On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that same-sex couples have equal right to legal marriage and marriage benefits in the eyes of the law. In the hours after the decision was released, news outlets around the country attempted to summarize what this could mean for the American public. CNN wrote, “the decision could settle one of the major civil rights fights of this era,” reflecting on the abundance of pro-LGBTQ demonstrations, parades, and celebrations taking place across the country on that day (de Vogue & Diamond, 2015). While notably the country was still split regarding public opinion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) rights, many reflected that a SCOTUS decision might bridge and start to resolve this ongoing debate (Chappell, 2015). The public turned to social media to voice their reactions to the SCOTUS ruling, and posted numerous messages of support or dissent. Brands also turned to social media, posting their own supportive or opposing interpretation of the ruling in carefully crafted corporate messages. Companies such as Budweiser, Gap, Hilton Hotels, and Coca-Cola brandished their support of the LGBTQ community in general and the newly legalized marriage rights on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr messages (Castillo, 2015). MSNBC reported that within an hour of the ruling, 3.6 million tweets used the hashtag #LoveWins (Castillo, 2015). Even more importantly, many of these tweets originated from corporate, rather than individual users. In an effort to show their support and backing of the SCOTUS decision, corporations posted images, messages, and videos that aligned their company interests with the LGBTQ community. It is unclear whether these messages were authentic signs of support or carefully crafted marketing (or some combination of both). However, rainbow-themed posts quickly elicited reactions from brand followers on nearly every social network, resulting in user debates and criticism of these pro-LGBTQ posts (Thadani, 2015). Users questioned the authenticity and perhaps ulterior motives of companies perceived to suddenly demonstrate support and pride. For example, when Facebook released a new tool that would lay a rainbow gloss over user profile pictures, some users questioned its motive and suspected it was a poorly disguised strategy for the platform to track users’ support or dissent (Lafferty, 2015). In short, the public was responding, but perhaps not in the way brand managers had anticipated. This is not the first time public opinion questioned the authenticity of just-in-time social media content (Guidry, Messner, Jin, & Medina-Messner, 2015). Previous research suggests users were quick to identify posts they felt were obvious forms of pandering or unwanted marketing (Howard, Mangold, & Johnston, 2014). Furthermore, Shao, Jones, and Grace (2014) found that social media communication tends to coalesce around present or missing alignments between consumer self-expression and brand-promoted values and ideas. While social media currently offers the best tools for brands and consumers alike to communicate quickly with various groups, many users are skeptical of companies who seem too eager to take advantage of this ability (Carlson & Lee, 2015) by tying their communication to timely or topical posts. This study investigated public reactions to seven SCOTUS-themed Instagram posts by four large American companies using narrative discourse analysis. Within the wider context of critical discourse analysis (Van Dijk,