This 1994 Ikea Ad Was TV's First-Ever Ad Wh a Gay Couple - Curbed

first commercial with gay couple

Jeweler Tiffany & Co., for the first time, is featurg a gay uple an ad mpaign.

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HOW GAY UPL TV MERCIALS BEME A MASTREAM PHENOMENON

Back 1994, Ikea ma advertisg history by nng the first mastream mercial featurg a gay uple. Called “Dg Room,” the ad aired three ci — New York, Philalphia, and Washgton, DC — and only after 10 p.m. The geographil… * first commercial with gay couple *

Inially, that seemed like an all-too faiar slap the face for gay Amerins, perhaps even a step back for their llective social standg.

HOW GAY UPL TV MERCIALS BEME A MASTREAM PHENOMENON

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.

IKEA’S “DG ROOM” FEATUR FIRST OPENLY GAY COUPLE COMMERCIAL

AFA and s subsidiary, One Milln Moms, have been nstant fo to gay and lbian tolerance Amerin culture.

“Fay entertament is not the outlet which to be polilly rrect by forcg tolerance and acceptance of homosexualy – a sful liftyle that Scripture clearly ems as wrong. Today, the world’s biggt advertisers primarily e targeted web ads as a means to market products and servic to gay Amerins a hyper-foced way.

“That’s where we saw this huge sh of advertisg wh the to pani and bankg and travel pani, ” Mark Elrk, CEO of the Gay Ad Network, told CNN Bs.

IKEA’S INIC “DG ROOM”: THE FIRST MERCIAL TO SHOW A GAY UPLE

Elrk’s firm has helped some of the world’s largt rporatns velop polici and marketg strategi for gay dienc for the last 25 years, mostly onle and on social media. “Wh TV, if you wanted to n a mercial wh LGBTQ characters, you were nng on a work that wasn’t gay targeted. Zola Chief Marketg Officer Mike Chi said The Hallmark Channel didn’t take issue wh Zola 2017 when the onle weddg registry and planng pany sent the work a prev ad featurg a gay uple.

That mercial showsed ttimonials om several heterosexual newlyweds and one gay uple talkg about their posive experienc g Zola. Weck, the LGBTQ market expert, has seen the spendg power of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr Amerins uptick slightly om about $790 ln 2012 to more than $800 ln to date by his own timat.

From 2012 to 2017, the percentage of Amerins who intified as lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr also rose a b om 3.

HOW IKEA MA HISTORY 1994 WH THE FIRST GAY COUPLE AN AD

Heterosexual Milliennials’ overall fort beg around gay and lbian dividuals dropped om 53% 2017 to 45% 2018, acrdg to the latt rults of the annual Acceleratg Acceptance report missned by GLAAD and rried out by Harris Insights & Analytics. But the largt generatn of young adults is still far more acceptg of gay marriage than their precsors.

A Pew Rearch poll released May showed 74% of Millennials support gay marriage 2019 pared to 58% of Generatn Xers and 51% of baby boomers. Dtsch’s 1994 ad “Dg Room” for Ikea marked a pivotal moment advertisg as the spot shar TV’s first gay uple.

And this go back to 1994, well before beg openly gay was monplace.

THIS 1994 IKEA AD WAS TV'S FIRST-EVER AD WH A GAY COUPLE

It was an IKEA mercial that Dtsch produced, showsg the first openly gay uple, buyg furnure. Lookg back, the 1990’s emerged as a of niche marketg, and a number of advertisers targeted gays, as surveys showed they often enjoyed a higher disposable hoehold e.

In 1994, IKEA aired their TV ad “Dg Room” and beme the first brand to release a mastream mercial featurg a gay uple. Fast forward to 2022, and gay upl featured advertisg no longer seem radil.

TIFFANY & CO. JEWELRY AD CAMPAIGN FEATUR ITS FIRST GAY COUPLE

It was hard to be openly gay, which n be seen by the sheer amount of backlash that IKEA faced bee of this advertisement. Still, the cultural difference between Swen and the US uld be the reason behd IKEA’s “long history of cludg gay and transgenr them s advertisg”.

What’s groundbreakg and unique about this ad is that portrayed a gay uple a posive light durg a tumultuo time perd. Ellen Carton, executive director of the New York chapter of GLAAD, said the ad showed “an aspect of gay life that people never see: our daily liv. Instead of showg gays and lbians marchg at gay rights ralli or sufferg om AIDS, the IKEA ad humaniz .

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* FIRST COMMERCIAL WITH GAY COUPLE

Ikea's "Dg Room" Featur First Openly Gay Couple Commercial - 4A's .

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