Hello and welcome back to Advertising and Society. I'm holding here a lion that I got as a memento from a trip I took recently. I rather like it. It's I use it as a bookend really in my office. It's just interesting. But the lion reminds me of something very important and that is, in the world of advertising there are Golden Lions given at a, at the Cannes Advertising Festival every year, for the very best ads that are produced all over the world. Different companies submit the things for the competition. A panel of distinguished judges has a look at things and then a very small number of ads, print ads and television commercials, are given golden lions signifying the excellence of their work from the point of view of advertising. Now, this golden lion is my golden lion. I like it a lot and I'd like to give it to the entire world of advertising. And the reason for this is that I think advertising has actually accomplished something truly significant. In the way of representing sexuality it's no longer simply a representation of hetronormativity. The kind of sex that occurs conventionally between a man and a woman. But it's a situation in which advertising has begun to recognize and represent all sorts of alternative sexualities. In doing this, it's turned this lion box so to speak, into a Pandora's box. Because all sorts of things are now out in the open. For display, for discussion, for recognizing in a way that they never were before. So congratulations advertising, I think you've done a great job. You're deserving of this award. And I want now to have a look specifically at some of the things that you've accomplished as you've explored and opened up this new area. Since the 1990's, national marketers and advertisers have recognized a new specialized market segment, the gay consumer. Prior to this, there was very little advertising directed to gay men. It was primarily found in gay newsletters and newspapers that had local circulation, and in a small number of national circulation, gay erotica, or we might call them pornographic magazines. The primary sources of advertising income for the newspapers and newsletters where local gay owned businesses. And by contrast advertising in the national circulation magazines was quite limited and did not include national advertisers of recognized brands of consumer goods and services. In just a couple of decades, however, all this has changed, to the point where media directed to gay men has expanded considerably. And are supported, in large part, by the paid advertising of well known brands like Budweiser, United Airlines, Nike, Ralph Lauren, and the like. Gay consumers now constitute what market is referred to as a niche market. That is a specialized market with its own characteristic profile that's large enough and affluent enough to warrant special consideration. Other such markets include African-Americans and Latinos. Both of whom have also been recognized as sufficiently sizable and affluent enough to garner the attention of advertisers and marketers. In the late 1980's and 1990's, market research showed that gay consumers are typically better educated, earn higher incomes, and are more likely to hold professional positions than their straight counterparts. In addition to this the idea was put forward that the typical gay household has two incomes, and no additional dependents. The problem is that the actual numbers of gay people in the population is really unknown. Partly because, there's no way to identify gay people as such unless they self-identify, and many do not. What tended to happen is that the Kinsey numbers that he had proposed back in the 1940s, were used in estimating the size of the gay population. And Kinsey had suggested that gay people may might be as many as one in every ten. More recent studies has suggested that the numbers may be more like three or four per 100. Now there have been people who've challenged this notion that gay people are especially affluent and plentiful. And there is some controversy about their numbers and their affluence. But nonetheless, what started to happen is advertisers have begun to pay attention to them. And in the process of doing so, they've helped the community even come into existence. The most important scholar of the gay advertising situation and of the gay market is Katherine Sender of the University of Pennsylvania. And she in examining the issue of gays in advertising has pointed out that the recognition of gay people was not a social consideration of what was the right thing to do. But rather a business decision of, at Corporate America recognizing that it simply made good business sense to pay greater attention to people who had spending power. And would become consumers if they were properly spoken to. Now, the history of advertising includes other examples that I have mentioned before like Latinos and African-Americans. And this continues to happen as the market is increasingly diversified in America. If we look specifically at the emergence of the gay market, we can see that a number of things happen to help bring this market into awareness and really into existence. Perhaps the most important thing beyond the stonewall riots, which established the game movement in 1969, was the boycott of Florida Orange Juice. Anita Bryant, who had been the spokesperson for the Orange Juice, also became a very outspoken critic of gay people and their lifestyles. And thus finding this reprehensible and not wanting to buy products that she was the sponsor and advertiser for. There was a national boycott that was organized against Florida orange juice. This was so successful that Bryant was dropped as the spokesperson and gay people saw themselves as involved in a movement, really, for the first time that emerged out of marketing situations. >> Because it's the kind of pure, natural food I like to serve generously. And 100% orange juice costs only pennies a glass. >> More, please! >> Of course, Sweetheart. And remember, a day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine. [MUSIC] >> If you look at this brief video, you'll see the story of Bryant's rise to fame and her effect on the gay market, which I think you'll find very interesting. Now, there were other things that happened also from the marketing point of view that influenced gay consumers and helped them develop an awareness. An example of this is the IKEA advertisement that occurred in 1994. Where for the very first time we had on American television an openly gay couple are going out in this case to buy items for their apartment the recognition that they had a relationship, a long term relationship is signified by the fact they lived together and have a, a, an apartment together was a first for American advertising. >> Well, you know, we went to IKEA because we thought it was time for a serious dining room table, and. >> We had slightly different tastes. I mean, Steve's more into country, and it frightens me, but at the same time I have compassion. >> [LAUGH] We've been together about three years. >> I met Steve at my sister's. Wedding. I was really impressed with how well designed the Ikea furniture was. >> He is really into craftsmanship. >> These chairs are really sturdy. >> This table included a leaf. >> A leaf means kind of staying together, commitment, we have got another leaf waiting when we really start getting along. >> SInce then, there have been other examples of this sort of thing. But there always has to be a first in developing this kind of thing and it only goes back a, a couple of decades. If you look around the other examples of this kind of thing where we can see that other companies have recognized gay consumers and have shown them in their advertising. But all of this is something that has occurred really since around about 1990. And increasingly in the present we see lots more examples of this kind of thing. Along the way there've been some rather negative things that have also happened. There've been some negative stereotypes and some really homophobic television commercials and advertisements. And some examples of humor at the expense of gay people. I call your attention in particular to a Heineken commercial from the year 2000, which talks about two straight men having, quote, a male bonding incident in which their bodies touch accidentally, and then they have to deal with this fact that they've invaded each other's space. >> Go baby go! Straight up the middle, go, run! >> What? What? >> He's going to score, he's in! [CROSSTALK]. >> Dude, he's totally in the open. [MUSIC] >> You know what this game needs, more cheerleaders. >> Oh yeah. >> More cheerleaders dude. >> This is seen by the gay community as being extraordinarily homophobic. And is not much liked. Now a days I don't think Heineken would do something like this. But it did do this and it was meant to be funny and humorous. But that kind of humor at the expense of gay people is not to be found much nowadays. There are some media sources directed specifically towards gay people. In particular I think of Out magazine and Genre magazine that have gay readers as their designated audience. And in these magazines there are increasingly major companies that advertise to gay people. You can see an example of this in this Avis advertisement in which the car rental company talks about rates for domestic partners that are exactly the same as the rates for married couples. Similarly, you can see on this Kodak advertisement that the example of the photograph that's taken is not of a man and a woman as a couple, but of two men. So we see these kinds of things occurring in situations like that, and also, as I said, increasingly in mainstream media in more recent years. Along the way there's been the phenomena of double producing ads sometimes and that simple means that an ad is made that appears to show a heterosexual couple as you can see in this first slide. But then there's another version of it that also exist a in which the couple is gay. And that second example would be placed in a magazine like Out. With the different audience intended. So, sometimes adds are produced like that. Especially in the past that was done a lot. There's also another situation with regard to how gay people are represented and that's what is referred to by some people as Gay Vague advertising. And that simply means that you can look at the advertising and if you want to interpret it as involving gay people, you can do that. But if you also prefer not to see it that way, that's also possible. Here's an example of that situation where Lufthansa offers a two for one fare to Europe, and it asks the question who your best friend is. Meaning, who would you like to take along on the trip? Now, in the image that occurs with this particular ad, we see two men. And this could be read as a gay couple who might be headed off to Europe together. But it also could be read as just two men who happen to be really good friends. So these things are left open-ended, and are thus gay vague. So that depending on the reader, and what you want to see in it. There are a variety of interpretations that may be placed on the ad. Now sometimes what we see in advertising directed toward gay people is an effort to be, humorous. And this humor often involves in-group references of one sort or another. And you can see here with these two Budweiser advertisements, that terms that are used in the gay community are used here in a humorous way to let the consumer know that the company is sensitive to gay lifestyles. Indeed you could say that Budweiser actually has a gay persona and this is what it looks like in these two ads. But these ads are not really intended for the mainstream audience [NOISE] but they are specialized and would appear in specific magazines targeted toward gay readers. Now one thing to pay attention to, is that in the process of speaking to gay people, there has been a tendency sometimes in the past to idolize a particular kind of body type. And this has been the very youthful thin athletic man. And we see some examples here of that body style standing for gay men. But, increasingly, what we've begun to understand and see in more recent years is a recognition of diversity within the gay community. Not every gay man holds this up as his ideal of a body type that he'd like to see on himself or on his partner. So we can find also magazines like A Bear's Life. Intended to speak to a group of gay people who call themselves bears, meaning by that, that they are larger men who often have a lot of body hair. And thus idealize and, or interested in the different kind of body type. From that youthful, slim, athletic type that we've seen so often in the past. So, what this does along with ads like this one that asks Bare or Bear? Meaning hairy or shaved. Are recognitions, increasingly in advertising that there is diversity within the gay community. Let me also say just a few words about, advertising depicting lesbians instead of gay men. First of all there's not very much of it, it happens some times. And advertisers have tended to take the, approach toward the LGBT community, that gay men sort of stand for everyone else. We can sometimes see, as in the ad that you see now on screen, the representation of two women in a relationship, just as we've seen representations of two men in a relationship. But there is not, nearly as much emphasis on this, partly because it's thought that women don't earn as much money, that women can read themselves into ads in which men appear. Just as in the past women were expected to make the adjustments and transformations, that men, that when you see the male pronouns being used, for example, you're to read yourself, as a woman, into that. Advertising needs, I believe, to do some work on this. And to increasingly represent the diversity within the LGBT community. And not just expect gay men to stand for everyone else. Now, we also find that, sometimes, there are specialized products that are targeted to gay commun, gay consumers, and to the gay community. You can see in this ad that a special cruise that's intended for gay people is on offer. Or you can see in this ad that drugs intended to treat HIV and AIDS are being promoted. There's been an awful lot of that, especially in the past in places like OUT and Genre. Where given the incidence in the gay community of these diseases drug companies have taken great lengths to place ads to offer help for people who suffer from these diseases. Now there are also people [SOUND] in this case the GLAD Advertising Media Program. That collects examples of advertisements depicting gay and lesbian people. It has collected a large number of these things and has recognized how very many of them there actually are. But not all of them have been positive, and therefore, they've come up with a set of best practices. That are their recommendations for people in the world of advertising about the best way to represent gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual themes in advertising. I recommend that you go to Ad Text and have a look at those best practices. And see whats being suggested here by thoughtful people about the best way to represent, alternative lifestyles and advertisements, I think you'll find it very interesting whats being suggested there. Now in conclusion let me remind you that niche markets of all sorts have been around for a long time. And that advertisers tend to address particular groups of people when they recognize them as potential consumers. Gay men are one of the most recently recognized such groups, and their being addressed directly because they, as a segment of the American population, are increasingly seen as having spending power. And being sufficiently large enough to warrant special attention. Because gay lifestyles tend to be somewhat different from what might be termed mainstream culture, sensitive advertisers have attempted to represent gay interests in ads directed toward gay readers. Recent trends suggest that a gradual movement of gay representations into more everyday representations is occurring, just as it has in television programming and in Hollywood films. This course is a collaborative venture of. Duke University and the Advertising Educational foundation.
