COMMERCIAL CLOSET NEWSLETTER - April 4, 2002
Bringing Social Conscience
to Advertising Through Education.
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LATEST
ON COMMERCIALCLOSET.ORG
1. FEATURED ADS: Cebu Ad Conference
(Philippines), Sky Television (New
Zealand, Polaroid (U.S.), Shoppers Drug
Mart (Canada)
2. POLL: Are Commercial Closet visitors in advertising, media,
an individual,
or student? (PREVIOUS POLL RESULTS: Do you think using sports
stars in
gay-themed commercials will make society more comfortable/tolerant?
SEE BELOW)
3. REPORT: Gay TV Provides Fizz for
Pepsi
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Newsletter service courtesy of gay travel portal
www.BluWay.com
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1.
NEW ADS
- Cebu Ad Conference "Target Market"
A commercial for an
advertising conference in the Philippines effectively
challenges traditional
marketing expectations.
http://www.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/portrayals.html?record=788-
Sky Television "Motel/Super 12" (DDB Needham)
Two men check into a motel for
a few hours and raise suspicion when they
don't mind sharing a bed together
in this New Zealand commercial.
http://www.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/portrayals.html?record=670-
Polaroid "Spin" (Goodby Silverstein & Partners)
Passing time in an
airport, guys and gals play spin the bottle and have fun -
- until a passing
janitor puckers up for his kiss with one of the guys.
http://www.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/portrayals.html?record=522-
Shoppers Drug Mart "Check Out Bob" (TBWA Worldwide)
Construction workers
appear to swoon when their buddy Bob walks by, even
checking out his butt,
in this Canadian drug store ad.
http://www.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/portrayals.html?record=784*****************************************************************************
2.
POLL
Commercial Closet wants to know a little about its visitors. Are you
a/an:
-Ad/marketing agency executive
-Corporate mktg.
executive
-Media/journalist
-Individual
-Student
PREVIOUS POLL:
Do you think using sports stars in gay-themed commercials
will make society
more comfortable/tolerant?
Yes - 74.4%
No - 13.2%
Unsure -
12.4%
1246 TOTAL (Feb. 25-Mar.
25)
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3.
REPORT
Gay TV Provides Fizz for Pepsi
By Michael Wilke
April 4,
2002
The Pepsi-Cola Company could become the choice of a gay generation
as it
eases into the new world of gay TV, making it the first soft drink
brand ever
to target the gay market.
One of the first major sponsors
of PrideVision, the 24-hour gay TV network
launched last fall in Canada,
Pepsi is putting its support behind the "Urban
Fitness" show with Pepsi and
Diet Pepsi commercials. "Urban Fitness" began
in January and Richard Burjaw,
Pepsi-Cola Canada's director of marketing,
says it "has all the energy and
youthful spirit of the brand. Attitudinally,
it's a good fit."
While
its start is modest, Burjaw says Pepsi may add support to other
PrideVision
programs, and though he has decided to use mainstream
commercials now, it's
"absolutely a possibility" that gay-specific
commercials could appear later.
The company has also been broadly eyeing the U.S. gay market since 1997,
when it was advised by a gay marketing agency to expand its policies for gay
employees first. It added an inclusive non-discrimination policy then but
has
not yet made any corporate marketing moves here, though an independent
Pepsi bottler is said to be interested in supporting a Pride parade in
California this summer.
Gay TV Race to the U.S.
As reported by
the Commercial Closet column last September, PrideVision
has plans to expand
its viewership into the U.S. by fall 2002, and Viacom's
Showtime and MTV
also intend to launch their own American gay network
soon, once enough local
cable carriers are committed.
But with no precedent for any gay network
-- let alone two -- some worry if
there's room for both. . .
. . .
COLUMN CONTINUED AT THE WEB SITE
http://www.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/index.html?page=column******************************************************************************
COMMERCIAL
CLOSET MISSION STATEMENT
Advertising has social impact and Commercial Closet
seeks to bring dignity
to how the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
community is represented
in the most powerful medium of our time. The
project is a unique, non-profit
education and journalism organization that
charts portrayals of the gay
community in mainstream advertising worldwide,
with a 750-plus ad
collection online, a traveling video lecture and a
syndicated ad column.
Exec. Director:
mike.wilke@commercialcloset.org******************************************************************************