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CHARLES DAVID - THREE As obviously lesbian as this image may seem to most, Charles David's spokeswoman Rachel Taylor says, "People love to read into things. "I was there--the models were tired of waiting for us to figure out what tops for them to wear, they were just resting and the photographer took their picture. Everyone thinks they're lesbians. We just thought it was a great picture." Taylor says the women were not totally naked, just topless. Because the store only sells women's shoes, Taylor explains, "we had a man in our campaign but he was more of a prop." The store got a half dozen negative letters about the ad that ran in edgy fashion magazines, Taylor said, from clients "who said they would refuse to go into our store with children -- I had no idea people are still so uptight.
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.
PRADA This sultry pair sitting in a hammock, with one woman's legs spread in front of the other, appeared in the fall Fashions of the Times from The New York Times.
Abercrombie & Fitch - wedding The most overtly gay-specific that Abercrombie has ever gone, these images from the Winter 2000 issue of A&F Quarterly, the company's own magalogue, depict a double wedding of the Emerson family. Predictably, the issue caused some controversy, something that A&F Quarterly has experienced before over depictions of nudity and the use of alcohol, due to the brand's popularity with youth. The publication is now sold with a plastic covering only to those over 18 years old.
DuLoren MARRIAGE A classic example of male-fantasy lesbians, on the left top it says "Mês das Noivas"(bridal month), and underneath there is a marriage certificate with the names of the two women. Below that comes DuLoren´s slogan "Você não imagina do que uma DuLoren é capaz" (You can´t imagine what a Duloren is capable of). On the right side of the ad, under the DuLoren logo, it says "Só prazer" (Only pleasure).
GUCCI With hands on the butt and breast, there's little amiguity here in the way that many fashion ads strive for. The group is lead by openly gay director Tom Ford.
QueerCompany British gay web site Queercompany introduced a controversial monthlong outdoor poster campaign that showed two women in bed sharing a romantic kiss with the tagline "Thank God for Women." A male version shows two barechested men embracing. Wanda Goldwag, managing director of Queercompany, said that the company was not trying to shock. "We are trying to attract upmarket lesbians and gays," she said.
The Appointment A woman gets dressed into sexy, black lingerie, intercut with her walking through a crowded restaurant. As she passes one man, he sees her as in her undergarments alone. As she slowly struts her stuff forward, the text asks viewers "Do men deserve it?" We see her sit down at a table with someone we see just from afar, who leans forward to kiss her. Up close in the kiss, we see it's another woman and the answer to the question comes at the bottom: "No." This stunning ad makes good use of relating the lingerie product to the story and is unapologetic about its overt lesbianism. Despite the widely-accepted phenomenon of straight-male fantasies of two women together, there is little advertising reflecting that. Boisvert's daring commercial is one of even few lesbian ads and fewer still that depicts women kissing. Few could imagine it airing in the United States. *click image for the storyboard
KENAR This ad got some attention because it features supermodel Linda Evangelista "kissing" herself dressed in male drag, and ran in Harper's Bazaar, Out, Vanity Fair, Vogue.
Client BANANA REPUBLIC Headline -My Chosen Family	Client SUNDANCE CHANNEL
Vera Wang MARRIAGE Widely regarded as the most influential designer of luxurious wedding dresses, Vera Wang has spent more than 25 years in the fashion industry. She began with a 16-year tenure as senior fashion editor at Vogue and went on to serve as a design director for Ralph Lauren. In 1990 she ventured out on her own, opening a salon at the Carlyle Hotel to showcase her bridal collection. Her label quickly took off, earning praise from the fashion elite and sophisticated brides for its luxurious fabrics, exquisite detailing and contemporary interpretation of classic lines.	Diesel SUNGLASSES This ad features two unlikely looking nurses about to kiss as they fondle each others' breasts. Diesel's director of marketing says this ad helped them sell over a million pairs of sunglasses. Despite the fashion industry's omnipresent use of sex to sell its merchandise – often "forgetting" to include the very clothing they're trying to sell – few have actually used overtly gay imagery like Diesel. Designers including Calvin Klein, Gucci, Versace, Abercrombie & Fitch and Benetton have only teased consumers with gay vague imagery. Diesel subscribes somewhat to the Benetton-Calvin Klein school of advertising, meant to shock people into paying attention.
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