LGBT Advertising Analysis

The history of LGBT marketing is not that long. Even now it continues to be a controversial topic, and the brands that include men and women of different sexualities get criticism from more conservative crowd. However, the number of companies trying to appeal to this group of customers in the last decade is steadily growing. Advertisements featuring gay people are not always aimed only towards LGBT audience - actually, they are frequently used in order to elicit a stronger reaction from the general public than an advertisement with a straight couple would. Generally, there are two kinds of advertisements that feature gay individuals. One of them is an advertisement simply marketing a product to LGBT community, without shock value, attempting

The company has a history of making shocking or controversial advertisements. Its content discussed social issues like racism or domestic violence. The advertisements which were printed in magazines used manipulation of images as a way of surprise the reader and catch their attention. As in the advertisement discussed above, the text accompanying the image uses wordplay to cause a strong emotional reaction in the customer - Unhate - which has a powerful message. The word hate has negative connotations, but the prefix -'un' inverts the meaning. Additionally, the image itself presents unusual situation. The world leaders shown in pictures are from the countries in conflict with one another or share contrasting ideologies. Probably the most controversial of them presented the Pope kissing the head of Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, the Egyptian Church. Vatican condemned the advertisement, as well as the other as the spokeperson of Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb: 'A statement from the Vatican said the ad was “damaging to not only to dignity of the Pope and the Catholic Church but also to the feelings of believers.” A spokesperson for al-Azhar called the ad “irresponsible and absurd.”' (Judkis). Again, the religious aspect of an advertisement makes it much more controversial. It should be added that the Benetton

Target, one of the biggest retail stores in United States included such advertisement on their online store. The advertisements presents two men in formal attire holding hands with a caption: "Be Yourself, Together." This refers to the gay marriage and encourages gay customers to prepare their weddings by making a gift registry in Target. This is without a doubt addressed directly to them. Additionally, the message shows Target’s standpoint (support of gay rights). This is archived without unnecessary sexualisation often present in other advertisements, such as the ones above. This one is simple, yet the fact that it presents gay couple, which is still something new in advertising, attracts attention. However, it is worth mentioning that Target was criticized by LGBT community in the past. After few controversial decisions of the company regarding the support of people who are against gay rights the reception of the advertisement was mixed – some claimed that the purpose was to erase past actions by persuading them into believing that Target was always LGBT friendly. However, the company done positive things for the community like being one of the financial supporters of some pride