Managing director Simon Altham described an epiphany moment when he woke up one day and decided, “I don’t want their money.”

A decision last year to start including gay and lesbian couples in brochures had attracted a small number of complaints, Altham admitted, but he said companies should not be put off by the risk of offending a small minority. “It’s the most liberating feeling,” he added.

Altham was joined on a panel about inclusive marketing by Michelle Toft, chief marketing officer at the agency that promotes the Pink Lady apple brand, which has sponsored Pride for the last three years.

Toft agreed with Altham, saying: “If a Pink Lady apple was a person, I would hope that they would be an inclusive person. For those that might complain, I’m really happy if they never buy Pink Lady apples again.

“There are business reasons we do things, and there are moral reasons. [Supporting diversity] is the right thing to do. Discrimination, whether it sells or not, is not a good business value,” she added.

Jean Reddan, head of marketing at Lloyds Bank Retail & Wealth Marketing Communications, explained how she encourages her team to look at all advertising campaigns through a “lens” of inclusivity.

“We don’t do targeted inclusion, we do natural inclusion. We have a diverse team ourselves, so we ask, can we all see ourselves in the marketing?”

Lloyds recently featured a same-sex marriage proposal in a TV advert, which Reddan said had received an overwhelmingly positive response, both from the LGBT community and its allies.

“We did get some complaints but I could put a tap on an advert and get complaints,” she said. “We were ready for it.”