Gay Advertisg’s Long March Out of the Closet

Contents:

• GAY ADVERTISG’S LONG MARCH OUT OF THE CLOSET
• GAY VAGUE
• MOVG PAST “GAY VAGUE” ADVERTISG
• WHY MARKETG TARGETED AT GAY AND LBIAN NSUMERS OFTEN MISS S MARK
• THE 50 GAYT ADS EVER
• GAY DATG ATHENS

GAY ADVERTISG’S LONG MARCH OUT OF THE CLOSET

From ads that sailed below the radar for straight folks to glter and rabows galore, the tone, targetg and imagery of LGBTQ+ reprentatn advertisements has gone through untls eratns as the muny faced pivotal moments like the AIDS epimic and changg there was queerbag, there was “gay vague.

Dpe the fact that an overwhelmg majory of Amerins support same-sex marriage, acrdg to Gallup — and rabow-studd advertisg is mon — marketg mpaigns featurg queer people are still provokg ’s look at how we arrived early years: 1970 to 1990Major rporatns’ earlit efforts to urt queer nsumers happened after the 1969 Stonewall uprisg and the first Pri march 1970, a major turng pot the visibily of LGBTQ+ people and the early years of the morn gay rights me the spirs. But s n was short-lived, as the ad was subjected to backlash, provokg lls for boytts and bomb threats agast Ikea sire to urt queer nsumers while avoidg public blowback led to a stra of advertisg known as “gay vague, ” g subtle elements that would register wh LGBTQ+ people while flyg over the heads of heterosexual dienc.

The ads would often feature people of the same sex domtic ntexts whout specifyg the nature of their market rearch revealed that lbians ma up a pillar of Suba’s ctomer base, the Japane pany leaned to the “gay vague” approach. One mid-1990s prt mpaign featured Subas wh license plat such as “XENALVR” (an alln to “Xena: Warrr Prcs, ” a show loved by some lbians) and “PTOWNIE” (a reference to Provcetown, Mass., a popular queer vatn spot) classic “gay vague” mercial om German tomaker Volkswagen buted durg the g-out episo of “Ellen” 1997. While queer viewers terpreted the men as a uple, straight viewers saw them as iends or Volkswagen didn’t tend for the ad to pict a gay uple, the pany’s rponse was unique bee “they said they didn’t md if people read that way, ” said Michael Wilke, a former Ad Age reporter and founr of AdRpect, a nonprof archive of queer reprentatn advertisg.

GAY VAGUE

“That was a real swch for advertisers, ” Wilke 1999, Print Bill Clton clared June as Gay and Lbian Pri Month, a gture that ultimately hered a new era queer rise of the rabow: 2000 to 2014The 2000s marked a turng pot cultural attus toward queer people. In 2011, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which had banned gay and lbian service members om the armed forc, was this perd, more rporatns started rg about and terg to queer people their ranks and beyond. ” The ad was among the first to e “hband” rather than “boyiend” reference to a gay this era, pani were still ncerned about the risk vers reward of urtg queer nsumers, acrdg to Bob Weck, print of Weck Communitns and an LGBTQ+ marketg expert.

”In the lead-up to Pri this year, retailers such as Kohl’s, Walmart, Nike, PetSmart and the North Face have also received blowback om the far right for stockg ems that extol equal rights and acceptance for gay, lbian and transgenr people.

Coed by Michael Wilke 1997, ‘gay vague’ is the appearance of people who are seen by some viewers as gay, whout beg explicly stated or done tentnally, this allows brands to urt two dienc: those longg for reprentatn alongsi those who would be put off by . It seems doubtful that the men ‘Sunday Afternoon’ would be viewed as gay today, at a time when boyiends n be, and are, shown timately and physilly mastream media. But JC Penney isn’t alone seeg the gay dience as ripe for bs: Marrtt Internatnal, Allstate Insurance and Amerin Airl last week announced new marketg mpaigns aimed at the gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr (GLBT) dience.

MOVG PAST “GAY VAGUE” ADVERTISG

And Amerin Airl recently troduced b shelter ads New York targeted to gay passengers, reportedly the first time a Fortune 500 pany has ed outdoor advertisg to addrs the gay dience.

Marrtt executiv “sed at the timg” of Print Obama’s statement on gay marriage, she said, but the mpaign has been velopment over the past 18 months. The term advertisg circl is “gay vague”: ads mastream media wh subtle gay ntent that heterosexuals tend not to register and that steer clear of any backlash.

WHY MARKETG TARGETED AT GAY AND LBIAN NSUMERS OFTEN MISS S MARK

Nowadays, advertisers and marketers are movg beyond “gay vague” to specifilly gay imagery, even as they aim at the wir gay-supportive dience. “JC Penney got such overwhelmg support (of the choice of Ellen DeGener as pchwoman), now they’ve taken to the next level, ” said Todd Evans of Rivenll Media, a gay media placement firm New York. Other “gay vague” TV ads you may have noticed — or not noticed: a spot for Orbz Travel, a golfer wears a shirt wh the logo of the Human Rights Campaign, a GLBT advocy group.

THE 50 GAYT ADS EVER

Change is g quickly at a time when a two-dad fay is at the heart of the most popular show on televisn (ABC’s “Morn Fay”), when a prott of JC Penney’s choice of Ellen DeGener as pchwoman backfired, when six stat already issue gay marriage licens and polls show fast buildg momentum support of gay marriage.

So-lled “gay vague” ads, such as Budweiser’s Tops and Bottl and Another One’s Comg Out, relied on ambiguy and d msag, while Volkswagen’s famo 1997 Sunday Afternoon mercial featured two men a r, unrstood eher as straight roommat or a gay uple pendg on the viewer’s, the LGBT muny is no longer a niche nsumer segment but an fluential group whose voice grows stronger all the time.

GAY DATG ATHENS

Apple recently found self ntroversy over the Siri app, which answers Rsian queri for nearby gay venu wh eher silence or Rowland is a brand manager on Smirnoff at 72andSunny Amsterdam and a proud supporter of the LGBT muny.

Abercrombie & Fch advertisements feature suatns that are exampl of gay vague advertisgby TheGravyGun July 2, 2011FlagGet the gay vague mug.

Publicize your Facebook post on Urban Dictnary jt 3 clicksgay vaguea man who exibs both gay and straight quali, nfg an observer to the sexual orientatn of the 1: Look at the hottie! The Denver Post article lked above f as “ads mastream media wh subtle gay ntent that heterosexuals tend not to register and that steer clear of any backlash. Before, gay vague was the way to addrs the gay dience wh mimal risk, but pani like Amerin Airl and JC PEnny are changg the game by marketg to the gay populatn directly and not-so-subtly.