Not long ago, ads targetg gays and lbians uld only be found alternative newspapers. Now Chevrolet, Levi Strss and others are targetg that mographic. Gut host Jacki Lyn speaks wh Advertisg Age reporter Thomas Pare about chang LGBT-targeted advertisg.
Contents:
- HOW GAY UPL TV MERCIALS BEME A MASTREAM PHENOMENON
- HOW IKEA MA HISTORY 1994 WH THE FIRST GAY COUPLE AN AD
- TIFFANY & CO. JEWELRY AD CAMPAIGN FEATUR ITS FIRST GAY COUPLE
HOW GAY UPL TV MERCIALS BEME A MASTREAM PHENOMENON
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. ” And pre-rabow washg, we had “gay wdow advertisg.
Brands that chose to reprent gay and lbian people were takg a huge risk. In 1986, the vodka brand Absolut created an ad that clud the artwork of Keh Harg, an AIDs advote who was openly gay at the time. To draw a rrelatn to the prent day, another vodka brand, Stoli, 40 years later produced an ad honorg polician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk wh a specially themed bottle–and a robt ad mpaign to support the lnch.
Even though their support was often subtle, the ads still shocked the world wh their mastream reprentatn the face of a wily homophobic culture.
HOW IKEA MA HISTORY 1994 WH THE FIRST GAY COUPLE AN AD
Wh the ntug taboo agast gay reprentatn and the backlash om queer-iendly ads the 1980s, brands ntued to shy away om the overt reprentatn of LGBTQ+ people most advertisements. It was IKEA that first ma wav wh their mercial that featured an openly gay uple. As one of the first reprentatns of a gay uple takg part normal activi, like shoppg for furnure, this mercial paved the way toward LGBTQ+ acceptance durg this era.
TIFFANY & CO. JEWELRY AD CAMPAIGN FEATUR ITS FIRST GAY COUPLE
For the first time, mastream Ameri saw a gay uple portrayed the same as any other uple a healthy, romantic relatnship. But wh gay marriage still illegal and a lgerg stigma surroundg queer inti, most brands played safe. Dpe the growg prence of gay characters early 2000s entertament, pani still risked backlash for showg explic LGBTQ+ clivy.
Levi’s took a more direct approach wh a mercial that had two distct endgs, one for a straight dience and one for a gay dience. Inially, that seemed like an all-too faiar slap the face for gay Amerins, perhaps even a step back for their llective social standg. Televisn ads aren’t as important the digal marketg age as they were a generatn ago, but some ways they reprent a fal ontier of mastream cultural acceptance for gay equaly, acrdg to several marketg experts who specialize helpg major rporatns sell products to the gay muny.
“It’s not about gay people as much as is ntemporary nsumers, ” Bob Weck, print of the LGBTQ marketg and munitns nsultg firm Weck Communitns, told CNN Bs. … Gay and LGBTQ nsumers, Gen Z and Millennials, their attus are so different about the ordars of same sex marriage today.