It’s a weird way to measure civil rights, but there’s something undeniably lovely about the simplicity of including some gay dads in an ad.
Two British companies managed to squeeze queer parents into TV commercials: the first was Sainsbury, which features all different kinds of diverse families, including two dads, two moms, and an interracial family. It’s stop-motion, features James Corden singing, and is surprisingly pretty.
Related: This powerful short film about a gay teen and his father will make you cry and give you hope
A statement from the company read, “We wanted to reflect a modern Britain and a diverse Britain. That’s what we feel like we’ve done throughout the whole piece of work. We’ve made sure we’ve got a true reflection of what we see out there every day.”
And now, a new ad from Thomas Cook features two more gay dads and their bundle of kids. There’s also a very fleeting — like, less than a second — shot of two shadowy figures kissing, and they sure do look like men. That seems to have been confirmed by the company, since according to their marketing director: “I think marketers can always do more to represent the needs of the consumer and that’s what we’ve tried to do with the gay kiss. It comes down to the needs of our customers and addressing a modern population.”
Well, hooray for all that. Now go out and kiss someone for Christmas!
Watch both ads below:
https://youtu.be/HlaCyE9oheI
Mack
It seems there are many more companies in the US who are showing same-sex couples in their ads. I keep waiting for the One Million Moms to start a protest about it. Maybe they’re waiting for King Donald to start censorship again.
NateOcean
Thomas Cook, what the hell was that at 0:21 ?
fur_hunter
I am so very glad to see progressive companies ignoring the ignorant and intolerant fundamentalist in the country and for that fact, the world. Companies understand that gays have more disposable money than straight families do, in most cases. So my comment to the fundamentalists who complain about gays is……SUCK IT UP!!!! We are not going away! Get used to it.
HalcyonDays
@fur_hunter:
“Companies understand that gays have more disposable money than straight families do, in most cases.
Perhaps gays without kids have more disposable income, but why would gay couples with kids have more money than straight couples with kids? Both have the same financial demands. I’d love to see the stereotype that gay couples (especially males) are more affluent than straights, put to rest, Gays reside in all economic brackets.
Aromaeus
It’d be nice if these companies also remembered non-white gay and lesbian couples exist. I’m not talking about interracial couples where one partner is white either. Two black men, two black women, a black guy/woman and a latinx man/woman, asian male/female couple, etc.
Green4Clover
@HalcyonDays: I think it’s becuase for gay/lesbian couples to aquire kids in the first place, they may have to be in a higher economic status. Striaght couples can bare children for naturally for free. Also males in general makes more on average than women. So 2 male incomes is generally more and an income of one male and one female. That’s is just my observations.
Terrycloth
Great ..just great now I’m going to have that song stuck in my head..the greatest gift is me..
dwbyers1960
This is so disgusting beyond words.
ShowMeGuy
@Aromaeus: Oh for fucks sake. There weren’t any people in wheelchairs either. They didn’t show any Vegans, Albinos, Little People, or Klingons. A 2 minute commercial doesn’t have time to show every fucking possible state of the human condition. And if you haven’t noticed all the commercials with all Black or Latin-American families….then you need to open your eyes because those commercials are everyfuckingwhere.