Lately a global wind around homosexuality has brands either backing it, opposing it, or staying quiet. Whether we accept it or not, LGBTQ people are among us: classmates, coworkers, strangers on the street. Homosexuality is everywhere and is being pulled out of the “someone different” frame. Removed from disease lists in the 1990s, it can now corner those who still push back. Brands that do not want the homophobic label, or that want to ride the wind, put those themes in their campaigns.
A few examples:
Dove put a gay couple in a Father’s Day ad;
Jeweler Tiffany & Co. also features gay couples openly;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIFE0cX48Ic
Magnum, known for pleasure-led ads, joined with drag queens;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTpXQp4NGy0
And Coca-Cola… Perhaps the best-known brand here for a new campaign on the theme.
With rainbow-themed cans it steps away from “taste is in the red can” and knocks down years of built perception. Whether wrecking the red-can cue worldwide in one campaign is wise is debatable, but Coca-Cola is taking the risk. After celebrating US marriage equality with imagery, it is now pushing a rainbow perception globally. How far it goes is unclear, but that level of support for normalization is striking.
Brands are putting real weight behind this wind. Whether the frame flips again someday is unknown; today many people, institutions, and brands are investing heavily in acceptance.
