+ info: The Guardian
Recent ads by Tiffany & Co and Lynx reflect a growing trend in advertising where homosexuality is not sensationalised. But more needs to be done to represent the whole LGBT community.
No ad is original. Adverts are a product of the environment in which their creators live. They piggyback on and manipulate current trends for profit. It’s therefore not a surprise that in the last 18 months we’ve seen some form of the selfie explode on to every poster site and TV ad break across the country on behalf of everyone from Turkish Airlines to GoPro.
Homosexuality has also been in the news. From a slew of American states legalising gay marriage to pages rife with celebrity outings from Tom Daley to Apple CEO Tim Cook. It therefore makes sense that we would see this reflected in ad land’s output.
But are brands that nod to homosexuality doing so in a calculating manner? It’s pretty gross to imagine a marketing manager proclaim: “Gays are in this year, can’t we work that into our new 30 second TV spot?” This is the cynics’ perspective, but it’s hard to stand by. If we decide it’s wrong that brands make money and acknowledge homosexuality in the process then the natural progression is that they shouldn’t be allowed to make any reference – a superinjunction on homosexuality in advertising – which is undeniably a step in the wrong direction.
