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CARTIER
This remarkable print ad for Cartier's $4,000 Menotte Bracelets is the first to feature a real same-sex couple: it features openly lesbian rock star Melissa Etheridge warmly holding hands with her partner Tammy Lynn Michaels, an actress on "The L Word" on Showtime, who share locking bracelets. Etheridge's and Michaels' faces are just inches apart in a romantic moment. The ad text reads, "Cartier's Menotte handcuff bracelets symbolize everlasting love and attachment. Here, the elegant white gold pieces seal the bond between Melissa Etheridge and Tammy Lynn Michaels, who celebrated their love at a commitment ceremony this summer." The ad ran in the December issue of Vanity Fair magazine. (Etheridge also appeared nude with her previous partner of 12 years, Julie Cypher, in a 1995 ad for PETA, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.) |
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| FLEET This is a crossover ad that speaks about diversity and pictures consumers. The text reads, "At Fleet, we see diversity as a strength in both the workplace and the marketplace. We are proud of our gay and lesbian employees and the tremendous contribution they make to our team and are pleased to have the opportunity to serve the gay and lesbian community." |
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| ABERCROMBIE
& FITCH |
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| BENETTON
- JENNY SHIMIZU Fast-paced cuts and movements by the model go quickly in this :15 commercial. She talks about her "best dress," the one "you love more than your boyfriend--but let's not get started on that." This spot could go by entirely innocuously, were it not for the fact that the model, Jenni Shimizu is an out lesbian. That makes her previous line funny--when you're in the know! |
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| POLAROID
- NEW YEARS EVE The ad begins with the question, "What are you doing New Year's Eve?" It then shows a series of vignettes with attractive, hip model types shooting pictures of themselves kissing. For a brief moment, two women of color are shown -- though they're the only ones who don't actually kiss. They are very close to one another and touch hands, however. The voiceover says, "To capture your New Year's kiss..." Polaroid has referenced homosexuality four times in its commercials, once implying a violent response from an old fisherman, another time showing a group of friends playing "Spin the Bottle" and including the threat of male kisses. |
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| Scots
- Whisky |
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| Sisley
- Fashion |
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| Schiesser
- Lingerie Two women are dressed in elegant black party dresses, with long black gloves and lots of jewelery, passionately fondling and making out with each other. This lingerie ad is nothing but unapologetic, unadulterated lust. |
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| Benetton This ad would otherwise be very everyday if it had a man and woman together; instead it shows not only a female couple but pregnant with baby too! |
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| OSLO
Gay and Lesbian Festival In a Disney-like cartoon made to look like Sleeping Beauty, a frog jumps into the hands of a princess. She kisses it and, instead of Prince Charming, she gets another princess -- whom she kisses again; This commercial won a certificate Clio award (and its billboard ads won a Bronze). |
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| AETNA A continuation of Aetna's pursuit of the gay market since October 1996 in OUT magazine with mainstream ads focused on retirement services, this ad takes Aetna a step forward with gay-specific creative that deals with diversity. The company joins an increasing effort by major corporations that are creating a presence for themselves in gay media with employee diversity ads. But unlike many other companies' diversity-focused ads, Aetna's offers a gay-specific image, not just text, showing two women embracing. |
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| TUACA This campaign was an early example of gay-specific marketing by an alcohol brand. Alcohol is by far the most crowded category in gay marketing, with over 40 brands jostling for attention. Perhaps the most consistent presence has been Seagram's Absolut vodka for over 17 years, but Miller Brewing Co. has also had a mixed presence in gay media since the mid-1970s. Somewhat impervious to early fears of criticism from religious conservatives that other marketers worried about, so-called "sin products" such as alcohol also had something no other marketers did before the 1990s – an easily quantifiable marketplace: gay bars. They didn't need to do research to find out how much gays purchased their products, they just looked at their sales. |
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| DIOR |
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| OLIVIA |
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| SKYY |
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| PETA |
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| SISLEY Photographer Terry Richardson shot the campaign that also appears in Details, Paper and other magazines with a gay, fashion-conscious audience. While the March Details ad was more sedate — showing two shirtless guys sucking on popsicles — other creatives for the campaign feature women in very sexual poses, some revealing bare breasts and bottoms. One of these ran as a billboard in lower Manhattan and garnered complaints, so the ad came down after a month. Sisley is Benetton's first return to gay media since 1995; its first ad in OUT was of the affectionate male twins in 1994 for Benetton. As Major explains, Benetton's ad director Oliviero Toscani likes to challenge consumers with his advertising. "His agenda is to push people's thinking. He feels the way sex is a taboo subject in the US is hypocritical and that we're our own worst enemies. Why do we tell children a baby comes from a stork?" |
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