Ellen DeGeneres, the omnipresent lesbian, is the most equipped human being to make Americans buy crap.
She pushes American Express. She pushes American Idol (and judges there, too). And then there’s her CoverGirl contract, where Proctor & Gamble pay her millions of dollars every year to look like a younger-looking middle-aged everywoman.
And it’s one of her CoverGirl print ads Starch Advertising Research found consumers viewed the most (of some 2,725 ads used in the study), and said they would recommend the product as a result of the ad.
This is no small matter. We all know how Ellen was almost ushered completely out of pop culture when in 1997 she came out to Oprah (and then her ABC sitcom character came out to her therapist, played by Oprah). And now market research — and what other type of trustworthy research besides this kind? — brands this person as the ultimate pitchwoman.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Is it evidence that Americans are becoming more accepting of lesbians (and gay men)? Probably. But it’s also evidence that with the right amount of marketing muscle, America will come around to accepting “the different.” And want to invest in it. Buying a product because Ellen “recommends” it isn’t the same as getting all of America to come around on LGBT equality because she says it’s right, but there are lessons to be learned. And you can purchase them with your American Express card.
Revemupman
Is it evidence that Americans are becoming more accepting of lesbians (and gay men)?
This is why I tell men its time for us to start a movement. Where we can find it within ourselves to liberate the structure and mindset we are in, in this modern society. Women have come to an almost full circle to be accepted in mainstream media and pop culture. Once you penetrate those sectors your pretty much on the freedom trail. Men on the other hand haven’t even close the car doors yet.
El Brucio
Lesbians have always seemed less threatening to the public. I think it’s because straight women don’t seem nearly as concerned about being seduced by lesbians as straight men are by the gays.
Still, her rising star can’t help but improve the prospects for same sex marriage. She’s managed to remain fairly politics-free on most of everything else, which no doubt helps boost her appeal across different groups.
Revemupman
“Lesbians have always seemed less threatening to the public”.
Lets change this to the REAL sentence……
WOMEN have always seemed less threatening to the public.
My question is: Why is this?
orinthe
I’m really surprised to find out that Ellen Degeneres does advertising for CoverGirl. Isn’t she a HUGE animal lover and animal rights activist? And P&G, meanwhile, is infamous for its animal testing for CoverGirl products specifically.
jamison
@Revemupman: well, its definitely not a good thing for women. substitute “less threatening” with less significant and all the other things women still have to overcome.
Revemupman
I’d rather be “less threatning” then to be a red alert everywhere I go. And women in the western society pretty much broke every barrier in their way. What is there left to grab really?
As in terms of sexuality women are FAR more liberated. Thanks to the sexual revolution and a couple of Sex in the City episodes, ask me this? If Adam Lambert got drunk at a Mets game wearing a leotard what would the outcome of that be?
His bodyguards are going to be put to the test…..
Phil
Well, there’s the glass ceiling and social pressure to steer clear of the more masculine career choices such as engineering or medicine as well as the pressure to pull double duty as both home caretaker AND career woman simultaneously IF they were to pursue a career. Honestly, your comments are rather sexist if you think women don’t have their own baggage.
Revemupman
“there’s the glass ceiling and social pressure to steer clear of the more masculine career choices such as engineering or medicine as well as the pressure to pull double duty as both home caretaker AND career woman simultaneously IF they were to pursue a career”.
Those career fields are open and filled with women what are you talking about? And about the double duty as home caretaker I think you have men misunderstood in 2010. This isn’t 1950s anymore men are home providers along with women. It takes 2 sometimes 3 incomes to hold up a household now. If your talking about pregnancy well guess what? THATS LIFE, and you should be proud to carry it.(Unless of rape or unwanted pregnancy)
Please give me some more valid issues to where I can REALLY stand there and shake my head to.
rrr
@Revemupman:
The erosion of the family wage combined with rising expectations about lifestyle means demand for dual incomes. However, when women joined their husbands in employment outside the home the household tasks and childcare work stayed primarily with the women giving them a “double shift”. The double shift results in women getting less sleep than their male partners on average. In families where a straight couple both have full time jobs, women on average work more hours in housework and caring for children. When straight guys do spend time with their kids they are more likely to spend it in fun recreation and entertainment and to describe it as relaxing. The unpleasant tasks of child rearing like diaper changing and making the brush their teeth fall more to women who are more likely to describe their child care work as stressful.
Women are still paid less for doing the same work as men. They also have issues like being considered dirty sluts if they engage in behavior that for men does not carry negative stigma.
And acting female is still considered lesser than acting male, which has an unfortunate side effect for us. Lesbians assume a kind of masculine role in sex which is perceived as making them stronger. Gay men by being penetrated by dicks assume a kind of feminine role which is perceived as making us weaker. Having male as the cultural ideal means there is much more discomfort and ridicule against males taking on any sort of female behaviors than there is about females taking on male behaviors.
Billy
It could be shes really highly trusted for her honesty, and it helps that she’s very funny and likable.