Ads supporting gay marriage legislation in the four key states of Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota are noticeably absent of any actual gay people.
The Christian Science Monitor reports:
In one TV ad, a husband and wife talk fondly of a lesbian couple who moved into their neighborhood. In another, a married couple speaks of wanting fair treatment for their lesbian daughter. A third features a pastor talking supportively about gay unions.
And let’s not forget about the ones with the adorable grandparents who secretly had a gay grandson. Okay, so maybe they have a point, that gay people are being pushed into the background to sell this to a straight audience. One ad out of Maine, however, did feature a brotherhood of firefighters, one of whom was gay.
“The moderate tough guys we need to flip to win a couple of these races are still the ones who say that gays are gross,” Andy Szekeres, a Denver-based fundraising consultant, who for the record is gay, and has worked on several state campaigns, explained to CSM. “Pushing people to an uncomfortable place, it’s something you can’t do in a TV ad.”
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Matt McTighe, campaign manager of Mainers United for Marriage, agreed: “The simple truth is that we are trying to win over the people that are not yet with us. I’m a gay man, and the general rule of thumb for me is that an ad that meets my emotional needs is not necessarily the thing that’s going to change a typical voter’s mind about gay or lesbian people.”
As did Richard Carlbom, manager of Minnesota United, who claims that many straight people “are on a journey on this issue, and the most effective way to encourage them is to show them other people who have taken the same journey,” and come to accept gay marriage.
While that’s all well and good, no one likes being talked about like they’re not in the room. And it’s not as if all these heterosexual voters have never met a gay person in their life. It’s 2012, we’re kind of everywhere, as Minneapolis gay Alexander Zachary argued, “This isn’t San Francisco in 1973, where all the gay people live in one neighborhood and all the straight people live everywhere else. We’re not this hidden culture anymore, so why act like it?”
After 32 failed campaigns D.C.-based gay activist Bil Browning thinks it might be time to re-evaluate this ad strategy, saying, “We’re never going to win if we can’t show our faces. It looks like we have something to hide, and we don’t.”
Dumdum
Hey where are the ads that explain how property values go up after the Gays move in and fix the place up ? That could be an excellent selling point. Come on girls ! You want to appeal to peoples greed. That always works. Oh we just love those Gays the neighborhood never looked better. Work it baby ! Work it !
Cam
I see Gay Inc. still thinks that gays are shameful and should be hidden away. They probably look at that Australian marriage ad and cringe.
viveutvivas
How cynical. The ad producers are probably the same people who accuse drag queens at pride parades of messing up the image of gays. Never mind that it was a bunch of drag queens at Stonewall who got the modern gay rights movement started.
fwilms
This is a mistake! Has anyone noticed that we have done this in every campaign and lost every one? People need to see real people. They need to see the quality and depth of our relationships. No one cares if Aunt Betty supports her gay nephew. Believe me, those who would be offended are not going to vote for us, anyway. I have seen some fabulous ads from other countries. Ads that say we are proud of who we are, not ashamed. This is cowardice and reeks of self-hating homophobia. Appealing to people’s fear is what the anti-gay people do. We must appeal to people’s hope and vision to live in a better, more inclusive world. Sorry, I think ads in which we give away our power to speak to others totally suck and it pisses me off when I see money I give for these causes used for those weasel fraidy-cat ads. No one is inspired or motivated by cowardice.
niles
Great idea! Let’s use an advertising strategy that has been shown to have a 100 percent failure rate.
GreatGatsby2011
Not to be offensive, but are commercials even relevant anymore? Thanks to DVR, I haven’t seen a commercial in over three years. The only advertising I experience these days is a 15 second ad every five songs because I refuse to subscribe to Pandora One and the not-so-subtle in-show advertising currently gaining popularity (“OMG, my partner’s been shot!” “That’s okay, I can call for help using my brand new Samsung Galaxy SIII. I can call 9-1-1, check my stock portfolio, and download ten apps all at the same time using my lightning fast 4g LTE network…” “Please hurry, he’s bleeding out!!” “Shh! I’m playing Angry Birds.”)
I suppose there may be people out there who still enjoy watching commercials, and I don’t mean to offend anyone who does, but to me this debate seems a little pointless.
viveutvivas
@GreatGatsby, good for you, but some of us can only afford basic cable.
jeff4justice
What’s stopping any of the LGBT mega groups from making some?
GreatGatsby2011
@viveutvivas: Oh wow. That sucks. I didn’t even know anyone had basic cable anymore. Everyone I know who could only afford basic cable has chosen the eschew cable services all together, favoring a DSL connection and streaming media services. Cheaper, more convenient, and limited (sometimes zero) commercial breaks.