Skater brands denounce gay-hating fans #toplovesall

A couple of young men from Western Quebec have drawn the ire of the social media shame machine for their violently anti-gay shirts and statements.

One of them (I won't repeat their names here) was photographed wearing a shirt with the name of his gamer group, along with the words "If you are gay, don't approch [sic] me I'll kill you," to a popular Halloween event in Ottawa. Once identified, the man and a friend spoke to media defending their group's message, even though it might be considered hate speech in Canada.

These guys don't deserve any more infamy than they're already getting, however local skater store Top Of The World's reaction is interesting from a branding point of view.

Recognizing RVCA and other subculture brands on the offenders, Top Of The World posted the above captioned picture with the words, "I'm sure you've seen these fellas in the news or on social media. If not check it out. We wanted to make ourselves clear when it comes to this kind of garbage. #ottawa #toplovesall"

In recent years, many brands have struggled with the polarizing issue of LGBT equality, such as in the pasta wars of 2013. But with gay rights in the mainstream consciousness, in more progressive parts of the world brands have more to gain (and less to lose) by being LGBT allies than in courting homophobic customers. 

Top Of The World and RVCA picked the smart side in this one.

The right way to mock #KimDavis' ignorant bigotry

I know, I know. She's an easy target. She's been married four times, with at least one marriage ending because of her infidelity. She has old-fashioned hair. And her husband dresses like the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz. (OK, I've been guilty of that one too!)

But if you really want to tell Kim Davis off for the hypocrisy of her so-called Biblical literalism, you need to knock off the personal attacks and take that literalism at face value.

That's how Planting Peace did it:

Twitter

I'm not sure they got the parallel right, though. If they are referring to Exodus 21:7 (“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do") it's more about slavery or indentured servitude than what we would call marriage. However, a DailyKos writer describes the same verse as "selling your daughter as a slave to be given to her owner or owner's son for sexual exploitation as a 'wife,' so I could be wrong.

There are lots of horrible definitions of marriage in the Bible, but perhaps this one was chosen for the pure absurdity of it in the modern west. But as far as I know, there is no real consistency of how marriage is defined in the Bible. Parts were written when polygamy was still standard, and others exhort married couples to ensure "the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral."

Of course, all of this is moot because Kim Davis doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. But it's such a shame that people like her have become the face of American Christianity in the 21st century. I'm not a believer, but I still believe that Jesus the philosopher was all about love and acceptance.

Tylenol does a beautiful ad that says nothing about Tylenol #HowWeFamily

Sometimes, my industry makes me too cynical. I completely understand why brands want to associate themselves with progressive social issues. The inevitable blowback, from reactionary groups such as One Million Moms, get them oodles of positive earned media. But is it really moving product? Let's have a look:

Beautiful piece. It could have been produced by any one of dozens of human rights groups, if only they had the money. And there's a campaign microsite (of course) for online engagement.

But it's not a human rights PSA. It is an ad for a pain medicine. And the branding is stuck on so bluntly that it seems like more of a sponsored short film than an ad.

Don't get me wrong. I like the video and I agree with its sentiment. But at what point do we question whether consumer brands are manipulating us by piggy-backing on the important social issues of our day? And is that OK with us anyway?

I think it is, but only if we consume the media (and product) with the open-eyed awareness that we are being advertised to. Johnson &Johnson aren't just being nice. They're following a plotted brand strategy, after testing the market last Christmas with a similar ad.

Ad Age quotes Manoj Raghunandanan, senior director-marketing of J&J's McNeil Consumer Healthcare, saying that research conducted after the December campaign "brought significant improvement in brand-equity scores on such survey questions as 'this is a brand that understands me'," which translated into greater sales and market share for Tylenol, "despite the brand putting no other advertising support behind its Extra Strength Tylenol flagship products during that period."

Nothing about the product's efficacy, nor its price, nor even its safety. Just family-focussed branding that builds trust and positive associations.

Perhaps this is the future for brand advertising, and to be honest it feels pretty good. Just don't forget that you are always a customer.

Theatrical ad banned from London Underground over bare man bum

My Night With Reg is a 1994 play about gay men in London during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. This poster, for the current revival revived at the Donmar Warehouse (and now the Apollo Theatre) was rejected by Transport for London for "male nudity," according to Pink News.

The poster, with a nude man holding the best rock album ever recorded, is a direct adaptation of the first edition cover of its book version.

In the past, Transport for London has been the subject of ridicule for its prudish advertising standards, once banning a poster for an exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts for showing a 16th century female nude by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Honey Maid redefines "wholesome" for the modern world #thisiswholesome

This is a sweet little campaign. Jumping on the bandwagon with Oreo, Cheerios and others, Honey Maid (Nabisco) is the latest brand to give mainstream validation the kind of family diversity that has become the new normal in the West:



Not exactly Earth-shattering stuff, just keeping up with the times. But that doesn't keep reactionaries like One Million Moms from ordering a boycott:

Right away it shows two men with a baby, followed by other families, and ends with different families pictured including the one with two dads. This commercial not only promotes homosexuality, but then calls the scene in the advertisement wholesome. The ad states, "Everyday wholesome snacks for every wholesome family. This is wholesome." 

One Million Moms stands up for Biblical truth which is very clear in Romans 1:26-27 about this particular type of sexual perversion. 

Honey Maid is also using the hashtag #thisiswholesome. There is concern about the way this ad is pushing the LGBT agenda, but an even greater concern is the way that they are changing the meaning of the word "wholesome."

There are more videos, showcasing the different families:











Oh, the sin! Loving families, showing more similarity than difference in their values.

The product is just a line of packaged, junk snack foods for kids. It's not exactly what I'd call "wholesome".

But the ads? (By Droga5 N.Y.) They're pretty well-intentioned. Nicely done.

"Traditions are what you make them," says wedding ring ad with two brides

The latest ad to take advantage of progressing American attitudes towards equal marriage comes from Long's in Boston. Nicely done!

Via Adrants

Mystery posters promote guns as an LGBT rights issue

Over the past few years, the LGBT rights movement in the United States has been phenomenally successful. So I guess it's not that surprising that another movement — the lobby against tightening gun control — would try to align itself with the equal marriage cause.

According to Buzzfeed staffer Sarah Karlan, these posters "have been popping up around the Washington State Capitol in the last several days" and the QR code leads to a pro-gun website called “A Human Right.”

According to MSN, however, the site's owner denies being behind the wild postings. Nashville commercial photographer Oleg Volk told James Eng:

"The photo poster is my design, the line drawing isn't. I encourage re-posting of my graphics, so I approve of the use in general. The specific use wasn't coordinated with me but that's just fine, pre-approval is not necessary. 

"I have no idea who posted them but they acted as my allies in the cause. I want everyone -— especially people who have been traditionally facing discrimination and danger — to be more secure and independent. Minorities of all kinds are in that exact predicament."

(I also wonder why there's what appears to be a Lebanese flag in the first one.)

This isn't a unique combination of positions. Libertarians, for example, support both LGBT and gun freedoms (among many others). But this particular positioning, at this particular time, seems mighty cynical to me.

Microsoft shows some love for equal marriage

More evidence of the sea-change in marriage rights for same-sex couples that has taken over the United States. Although I can't help but note that it's probably a lot easier for the "mainstream" to watch two beautiful women kiss each other than two men. But anyway, baby steps.

Here's the ad:



Ad by Deutsch NY. Tip via Business Insider.

Hijacking Katy Perry's breasts for a cause?

FCKH8.com is one of the many causes I follow on Facebook. They're a pretty in-your-face LGBT advocacy group, originally formed to fight California's homophobic Prop 8 with joyful profanity.

I was a little disappointed at this tactic, however.

The topless pic was nicked from a 2010 photoshoot by Yu Tsai for Esquire UK.

The Facebook post reads:

KATY PERRY: "I am a gay activist & I say that proudly. I voted no on Prop 8, of course. I definitely believe in equality."
♥ 10% Off "STR8 Against H8" & "Chicks Marry Chicks" Tees, Tanks & Hoodies w/ Code "LOVE" @ http://FCKH8.com/"LIKE" the Cause on FB FCKH8.com

Here's the thing. FCKH8 are fighting the good fight. But using other people's work — and other people's likenesses — without permission is not cool. Especially when you're using their sexuality to sell your own t-shirts.

Second, using a woman's breasts to get attention is not exactly progressive marketing. Even if she says she's an ally.

You can do better, folks. You're too big for this.

Las Vegas reaches out to straight tourists in gay ads

These ads for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority are aimed at the LGBT niche. As agency R&R Partners explains in their post on Ads of The World, "For too long, brands have told us they’re 'gay-friendly,' shown us a gratuitous same-sex couple, slapped a rainbow logo on it and called it a day." 

Instead, this campaign turns the situation around, claiming that Vegas is a destination "owned" by gay people.

If you really wanted to, you could complain that this campaign is guilty of "reverse-discrimination" with its stereotypes of awkward straight couples adrift in a sea of chic homosexuals. But I'm one of those awkward straights, and it doesn't bother me at all. When people have been put down for so long, they get a couple of free shots. (Or in this case, four.)

The Wagon Queen Family Truckster, however, is a low blow. 

TD Bank features same-sex couples in "mainstream" ads

The ad above was shared by my favourite Sicilian-Canadian reader, Jackie Di Caro. It appears in the Toronto Star.

Looking for background, I found that the "lifestyle" section of TD's web site also features a video with two men on the page about "becoming a couple".

What's cool about this isn't the fact that a major brand is targeting gay consumers. With their stereotyped double-income-no-kids lifestyle, committed same-sex couples are a marketer's dream. But instead of running a niche campaign in "gay" media, TD is simply adding same-sex couples to the rotation of its depictions of families. And it's not even a recent development. TD has  participated in, and sponsored, Pride parades for several years. The bank recently produced its own had-hitting It Gets Better video. And it walks the walk — it is recognized as one of "The Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality".

Via This Gay Relationship

What will all this gay-positiveness do to one of Canada's largest banks, and to society as a whole?

From a 2011 post in the blog "This Gay Relationship":

...if TD doesn't stop presenting all of these positive images in their newspaper ads, I might just get the idea being a gay male couple is as normal and natural in Canada in 2011 as has been the case for straight couples since the beginning of time (or at least since TD began advertising in big city newspapers). I'm not sure what would happen if the general population started to get that idea. Who knows where that could lead us. 

This is all awesome, from a progressiveness point-of-view, but it is also a great example of how traditional organizations are adapting to a changing social climate. In 2012, TD reported it had $1.6 billion of net income in the fourth quarter, bringing the total for year ended Oct. 31 to $6.47 billion.

"Even a white Christmas should have a rainbow"

This 1978 JELL-O ad from Found in Mom's Basement is a timely reminder of the way symbolism changes over the years. When I was my son's age, rainbow imagery was used as a badge of being hip. You'd see rainbows on jeans pockets, posters, and ads.

However, the same year this ad was published,  San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker first unfurled the rainbow pride flag for the gay liberation movement.Twenty-two years later, the rainbow symbol was so completely associated with LGBT pride that the University of Hawaii reacted in a homophobic manner by changing its football team's name from "Rainbow Warriors" to just "Warriors".

Today, it's hard to remember the rainbow standing for anything else. But there was a time when this:

..would lead to no jokes whatsoever.

This ad is so gay

Via Adrants

And isn't that wonderful?

Red Hook, a beer brewed in Washington and New Hampshire, has come out in favour of marriage equality in the run-up to next Tuesday's election in the United States. Americans in Maine, Maryland and Washington will also have the opportunity to vote for equal marriage amendments, and Minnesota voters have a "traditional marriage" one to consider.

This year's massively-polarized political climate has several brands to "take sides" on LGBT issues, including Oreo, Target, Gap and JC Penney flying the rainbow flag, and Chick-fil-A becoming an accidental shibboleth for the anti-equality movement. And Marriott International, an organization that "once counted Mitt Romney as a corporate board member" and whose owner "is among the candidate's top donors," is (ironically?) targeting lesbian couples in its advertising.

Adrants' Steve Hall points out:

It's always a gamble when a brand takes a stand on such polarizing issues. At risk is the loss of business from one end of the spectrum or the other. But it's admirable when a brand is brave enough to publicly share its collective beliefs.

It is great. Although I'm not sure a microbrewery is taking much of a risk in appealing to a more progressive audience.