Adverts: I Saw It In The Adverts

The history of gay people in advertising isn't that long. Rich Ferraro, vice president of communications at GLAAD (an LGBT organization that watches the media), says back in the '80s brands like Bud Light and Absolut Vodka were among the first to include the LGBT community in their advertising.

It was "mainly spirit brands marketing directly to gay men at the time," Ferraro says. "You saw images running in gay magazines or at gay events that featured a lot of shirtless white guys on beaches, or drag queens, and played up on stereotypes of the community." ...

Then in the 1990s, as society changed, brands started testing the waters with coded ads.

Robert Klara, a staff writer for Adweek, compares it to a two-way mirror: The ads contained messages that straight audiences would miss, but gay audiences would pick up on...

The push to get the LGBT consumer is example of how competitive the marketplace is now, says Adweek's Klara: "If you're not appealing to every minority community, be that racial or in terms of sexual orientation, you're missing out on market share."

Klara says it's tempting to think this is about social progress — but actually, he says, it's free market capitalism.

npr.org

The problem with gay TV commercials is they rarely go beyond three themes; son comes out to parent/s, woman discovers hot dude she fancies is gay, and monied gay couple being boring and bourgeois (ideally with a kid or two). 

Flora: Uhh, Dad I'm Gay

Uhh, where do you start? 
If you are a member of the short-sighted community - and the fact that the copy is unreadable to the average human eye is only the beginning of this South African advert's almost surreal crapness - we see a bullet that reads "Uhh, dad I'm gay" speeding towards some sort of porcelain (!?) heart.
The punchline? "You need a strong heart today".
What would Roland Barthes say?
Apart from, "C'est merde!", obvs.

Thanks to @jamiethelanky

Update: Monday PM
 

The advert was not approved by Unilever. It is offensive & we have put an immediate stop to it. Unilever proudly supports the LGBT community
— Flora UK (@OfficialFloraUK) September 2, 2013

Barclays Ad: Because Banks Are Wonderful!

Sorry, bit slow on the uptake with this one, 'cause I don't own a tellybox or go the cinema.
But Barclay's have a new ad that amongst other people features a gay couple.
Or rather a gay-not-gay-couple - they could be brothers or mates.
It's hard to be sure.
But I guess that's what the makers intended.
Still anyway, hurrah for banks - they really care.

Aldi: Buns

Part of a series of ads showing how wonderfully diverse Britain is and all that (the others come up on the YouTube siderbar).
Though it's worth noting if it's about diversity, how "normal" they've made the gay couple.
Still at least it's a "gay ad" that's not about a lad coming out, straight mens' gay panic, or a girl finding out a man she fancies is gay.
Not sure if this is just an internet campaign, it's not getting many hits if it is.

Rip & Roll: Ban This Filth!

This - let's be frank - disgusting advert was bannned in Queensland, Australia by billboard company Adshel after complaints from God-fearing Christians from the wonderfully literally named Australian Christian Lobby - on account of the fact that these two dudes are practiaclly bumming.
Sadly a partly Twitter-led campaign by perverts made Adshel change their decision within 24 hours.
Fortunately one of the posters in a Brisbane bus shelter has had the legend "Kill Em All" added, presumably by a Christian.
The Australian Christian Lobby are now campaigning to change the fag-worshiping name of Queensland.
Praise be!

Ad Of The Week: Coulrophobia

Not the clowns!!!!

ASA: Complaints

This chart of subjects most complained about to the Advertising Standards Authority in the last years doesn't specify if people were complaining about an ad that was homophobic, or ones that contained some homosexuality.
How very baffling.
But good to see the most complained about ad was that one for KFC that showed some people talking with their mouths full.
Well done Britain!

The Daily Mail Vs IKEA: Joined-Up Writing

'We Are Open To All Families': IKEA provokes outrage in Italy after creating advert with gay couple holding hands

"This is the latest gay themed advert from furniture giants IKEA which has appeared on billboards across traditionally Catholic Italy - with surprisingly no outrage..."

An unusually indecisive but undoubtedly outraged Daily Mail today.

Fosters Ad: Australian For Queer

"Complaints of homophobia are brewing over the latest TV ad for Foster’s lager," claims a writer on the ever-hopeless Pink News.
"In the ad, Dean seeks advice from Australian duo, Brad and Dan, on how to deal with his friend, who has just asked him 'to rub sun cream on his back'.
"Dean is visibly uncomfortable about his friend’s request, as is one of the Australian pair, who proceed to give Dean advice on how to avoid looking gay during this 'delicate situation”.
Pink News' headline poses the titular question; 'Is The New Foster’s Ad Homophobic?'
Check out the readers comments - no-one thinks it's homophobic, many point out it satirises a straight man's fear of being thought gay.
How out-of-touch is Pink News!?

Update: Seeing as Pink News broke this story - which would be a world first for those dumbwits - I wonder if Fosters fed them it?
See also no-one thinking it's homophobic on Queerty's comments.

Dove Ads: Adventures In The Skin Trade

Fagburn is loving the new advertising campaign for Dove's new men care range, the imaginatively named Men+Care.
It's so manly!
Ads for male grooming products are often hysterically straight, and thus hysterically funny.
The subtext is often; "But using this doesn't mean you're a poof."
"Be comfortable in your own skin" is the message/moral in the Dove campaign, but it could be "Are you man enough to moisturise?"
I like the way the men in the Men+Care ads are frequently pictured with a baby - you may have to forgive Fagburn, but isn't the baby there to signify not cleanliness ("Take two babies into the shower?"), but heterosexuality?
I hope no-one tells Ricky Martin.

No News: But Is It "Good" News?

In case you were wondering, there wasn't anything that I thought was worth commenting on in the papers today.
Nothing, nada, zilch!
And I'd be a hypocrite if I criticised the "Phil Space" school of journalism by myself filling a space when there is nothing that I think is worth reporting.
But as I'm a hypocrite I'll fill some space anyway with this French anti-smoking ad from earlier this year that I saw when I was looking through The Independent's Media section, for no other reason than that it sent my mind reeling.
What would Roland Barthes have said, eh?
Something in French, probably.