The New Normal: Chevy Ads Show Gay Couples
I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Chevrolet for airing two commercials during the opening days of the Olympics that were inclusive of gays and lesbians.
Screen capture from Chevy’s “The New Us” spot.
Wait, what?
Yup. CHEVY. Bastion of American capitalism and producer of big-ass trucks. The last word in “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and…”
Chevy paid upwards of a BAZILLION* dollars to run two commercials featuring gay couples during the Olympics. The Olympics being held in Russia, where the government recently legalized homophobia, essentially sanctioning hate crimes.
The first spot in Chevrolet’s #TheNew series shows a biracial male couple getting married, jumping a broom while holding hands.
.
A second commercial, “The New Us” shows all manner of “new” families, including two different gay couples with their kids, one of which is a mixed race family. There are also a couple of shots that may include lesbian moms, but they weren’t nearly as obvious (to me) as the gay dads.
.
To my memory, until the Coke ad during the Super Bowl and these two spots, there have never been commercials featuring same-sex couples on network television. I can’t even recall a national advertiser featuring LGBT people in a commercial on LOGO.
Precedent-wise, this is pretty significant. Freaking huge. Downright giddy-making. No, it doesn’t make everything right in the world, but it’s a step in the right direction. And it’s also a nifty little “fuck you” to Vladimir Putin and his fear-mongering presidency, swift may it end.
So THANK YOU Chevrolet. And Coca-Cola. And Madison Avenue. And all the envelope-pushing ad execs and copywriters, open-minded focus groups, magical marketing fairies and whoever else was involved in getting these produced and on the air.
Yes, I know Chevy’s in it for the money. And sure they may be pandering a bit. But getting pandered to by major corporations during world-wide sporting events is an American privilege. One that up until now, this country’s LGBT citizens had yet to experience.
Pardon me if I get emotional — I’m feeling an overwhelming sense of patriotism right now. And of wanting a Camaro.
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Props to Zach Rosenberg of 8BitDad.com for alerting me to these commercials. Last year he compiled a crapton of commercials featuring dads to evaluate how fathers are portrayed by advertisers. There were none featuring gay dads last year. This year he’s already got a couple to choose from.
Bonus commercial: here’s an awesome little PSA from Canada, our naughty neighbor to the north.
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*Not actual figure. But close
I want that kitchen. Do they seriously have a pizza oven? Also: good on the advertising. High time.
Brian:
I know, right?!? (on both points)
Brent
A Kindle ad last year featured a man and woman on the beach talking about their husbands.
Chris:
You’re right! I forgot about that one! But I can’t recall if it aired on network TV or just on cable.
Thanks!
Brent
Sorry, can’t help with that.
I remember a Volkswagen commercial from the 90s (the coming out episode of Ellen) featuring a gay couple. http://www.commercialcloset.org/
Joshua:
I thought of that one, too, but it was pretty vague. Certainly compared to these new ads.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_s5-R_JE4c
What do others think? Gay couple? Roommates?
Thanks for your comment!
Brent
[…] the website Designer Daddy, celebrated the appearance of two-dad families in commercials from both Chevy and HoneyMaid. Network TV programming also reflected greater acceptance of gay dads, with ABC’s […]
[…] be counted as families by the U.S. Census for the first time. Or that gay dads have turned up in all manner of commercials and top-ranked TV shows. Or how I belong to a Facebook group of over 3,000 gay […]
[…] be counted as families by the U.S. Census for the first time. Or that gay dads have turned up in all manner of commercials and top-ranked TV shows. Or how I belong to a Facebook group of over 3,000 gay […]
[…] be counted as families by the U.S. Census for the first time. Or that gay dads have turned up in all manner of commercials and top-ranked TV shows. Or how I belong to a Facebook group of over 3,000 gay […]
[…] be counted as families by the U.S. Census for the first time. Or that gay dads have turned up in all manner of commercials and top-ranked TV shows. Or how I belong to a Facebook group of over 3,000 gay […]
[…] Like Chevrolet, Coca-Cola and Honey Maid before them, Johnson & Johnson (parent company of Tylenol) joins an ever-growing number of corporations including LGBT couples and parents in their national advertising. The cynic in me wants to focus on the fact that the spots have yet to air on TV — in my mind a truer indication of acceptance on a larger scale, and something the ads for the other companies listed have done. […]