Advertising to the LGBT Community

This blog post was inspired by the new Allstate commercial that spread across Facebook like a wildfire. In case you were buried under a rock (or are my Mom and this is how she learns about these things… Hi Mom):

It’s inclusive, subtle, thoughtful, endearing, insightful, caring, and clear. It made me start to think about other amazing ads that either include or target the LGBT community so I did a Google search and it took me on a very satisfying path of learning how the marketing community has evolved in incorporating the LGBT community into all of our community.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) put out a list of the top LGBT ads in 2013 and posted a Best Practices to LGBT Marketing and Advertising that ad agencies are starting to follow. Some of the ads showcased just had all kinds of people in them, like the Nordstrom ad below, or explicitly showcased gay couples doing ordinary things.

Adweek posted their own Best Gay Ads of ever and there was a segment of the list dedicated to ads that were considered inclusive. They introduced the segment very poignantly, so I’m going to quote them: “Finally, we get to the holy grail of advertising for those who’ve sought gay equality: inclusive, respectful (and usually quite boring) ads that treat gay people like anyone else. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that these are often the most controversial.”

Bustle.com also had The Best Ads with Gay Couples and at the very bottom it mentioned that Barneys New York had decided to do an all transgender model campaign for Spring of 2014. Intrigued, I looked it up and there was a very lovely 30 minute movie about the shoot and the individuals and their stories. It was very moving and you should take the time to watch it. The first couple of minutes is fairly artsy, but get through that and learn a little more about a side of humanity you may have not thought much about. I can’t have it play on my site, so just click the square box and go to Vimeo and enjoy.