Same-sex marriage has been legalized in nine states and the District of Columbia, while President Barack Obama has thrown his political weight behind the cause. But even more significant, say some experts: Madison Avenue is taking up the issue. This week, Amazon released a commercial that gay-rights advocates say likely marks the first time the word “husband” was used by a mainstream brand on network television in the context of same-sex couples.
The ad for the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader features a man and woman sitting on a beach. He appears to have trouble reading on his iPad due to the glare of the sun and, on the advice of the woman, decides to buy the Kindle. “We should celebrate,” the man says. The woman pauses. “My husband’s bringing me a drink right now,” she replies. “So is mine,” he says. And with that, they both turn around and wave at two men at the bar.
“It’s a game changer,” says Bob Witeck, president and founder of Witeck Communications Inc., a public relations firm in Washington D.C. More companies are likely to follow suit with similar advertisements that naturally — and directly — portray same-sex couples who are very clearly married, he says. “This is the first time we’ve seen a glimpse of that conversation in a television spot,” he says. “It gives permission to other marketers to frame their stories in the same way.”
Corporate America is not only increasingly targeting the gay and lesbian demographic, gay rights activists say, but appealing to their friends and family as well. In fact, the number of mainstream advertisements containing gay images has doubled in the last year, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. There were a dozen such advertisements by household brands in 2012 versus the previous year, it says. They include Gap, Crate & Barrel, Johnson & Johnson, J. Crew, Discover America and Macy’s.
Notably, Amazon’s advertisements avoids using any stereotypes. “We don’t know which of the two men at the end is married to the man and the woman,” says Mike Wilke, founder of AdRespect.org, a non-profit that works with companies about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender — or LGBT — issues. Unlike many other “gay vague” commercials that leave the question mark about a relationship status, this represents same-sex marriage in a clear and yet incidental way. “It shows the direction advertising is going,” he says.
Why now? Advertising is reflecting a growing political and legal momentum behind same-sex marriage, Wilke says. What’s more, in his State of the Union address, President Obama said, “our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law” — a line that has raised expectations about the prospect of gay marriage being more widely accepted. (According to published reports this week, the Obama administration is considering whether to weigh in on a Supreme Court chase challenging California’s gay marriage ban.
And while commercials featuring LGBT images are still relatively rare, experts say the ones that do air inspire much less of a backlash than in the past. Indeed, public support of gay marriage is growing: In 2012, 48% of Americans supported gay marriage, compared to 33% a decade earlier, according to a Pew Research poll. Because of this, the advertising industry is incorporating gay people and families into mainstream campaigns, says Rich Ferraro, vice president of communications at GLAAD. In 1997, when Ellen DeGeneres famously came out on her ABC sitcom, J.C. Penney withdrew its advertising support. Today, DeGeneres is a spokesperson for J.C. Penney, which now features gay couples in its catalogs.
Of course, the issue is still a contentious one. On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for former first Lady Laura Bush requested that she be removed from an ad by pro-marriage equality group, Respect for Marriage Coalition, featuring comments supporting gay marriage by former Secretary of Defense Colin Powell, former Vice President Dick Cheney and President Obama. And the AP updated its stylebook Wednesday to “husband or wife” for all couples after an internal memo was leaked suggesting “partner” for married gay couples.
That said, a brand like Amazon AMZN -0.20% has the potential to influence public opinion on social issues, Witeck says. Ditto household names like Starbucks, Apple and Google, which have all donated to marriage equality causes. “But nothing speaks to equality like using the same words,” he says. The Kindle ad doesn’t have a cheesy slogan. “It doesn’t need one,” Witeck says. “This conversation is already taking place in shopping malls and workplaces all over the country. The advertisement simply says this is the America we live in in 2013.”
Quentin Fottrell – The Wall Street Journal
Jhawn Paul's Pink Sheep News 