How Advertisg Depicts Gays and Lbians - HBS Workg Knowledge - Harvard Bs School

gay stereotypes in advertising

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HOW ADVERTISG DEPICTS GAYS AND LBIANS

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.

But when to reprentg the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny, he'd like pani to at least acknowledge that advertisg n have a posive or negative effect on how people perceive one another. In a prentatn at the 2005 "Reachg Out" nference Boston on Febary 5th, anized by gay and lbian stunts at Harvard Bs School, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Yale School of Management, Wilke screened some of the bt and worst exampl of mercials pictg the LGBT muny.

Nety percent of Amerins say they know someone who is gay or lbian, said Wilke, founr and executive director of the Commercial Closet Associatn—a nonprof that works to te pani about LGBT reprentatn advertisg. Add to that the succs of shows such as "Queer as Folks, " "The L Word, " and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"—pl the upg lnch June 2005 of Logo, MTV's new gay and lbian channel—and 's clear that "we've gone om beg visible to pable.

REPRENTG FIFTY SHAS OF GAY THE LGBTQ+ MARKETPLACE

In a spot for TJ Maxx, for example, a gay fashn signer throws a screamg tantm bee his creatns are beg sold at a disunt. While drew some chuckl om the dience, Wilke utned that gay people and straight people uld lgh at the mercial for different reasons.

"It starts out lookg like a classic gay male stereotype, wh an effemate man talkg to his ltle lapdog, " said Wilke.

Volkswagen said that they didn't tend for the uple to be gay—but that was okay if viewers thought that was the se. "In 1997, no pany had ever said that, " said Wilke, who scribed the mercial as "gay vague. Puttg the "gay guy" on a project don't really work.

GAY STEREOTYP: ARE THEY TE?

Ikea: Dg Room Table (1994)Ikea’s groundbreakg 90s ad featurg a gay uple buyg a dg 1994, Ikea beme the first brand to feature a gay uple a natnal TV ad. There’s no shock factor or mp stereotypg (which would have been easy for an terr sign pany) but jt an hont pictn of two guys buyg a recent wave of gay upl adverts, pecially the US, n be traced back to this Ikea spot.

Ano: Bold is Betiful (2015)The Ano ad sparked a bate on equaly a untry where homosexualy remas illegal, the importance of this Indian ad nnot be overplayed (although s creative executn is qutnable).

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY STEREOTYPES IN ADVERTISING

Reprentg Fifty Shas of Gay the LGBTQ+ Marketplace.

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