Nowadays you have all kinds of online marketing, while ‘back in the day’ you really only had TV and radio. I want to look at the rainbow diversity in TV commercials. This was (and is?) one of the most expensive advertising media, so it is interesting to see how companies, brands and organizations have dealt with it. Cautious? Humorous? And (how) does this differ per country?To start with a historical perspective: in this article the three earliest examples.
Apologies for the quality but this is really from a very old box
But even then there was ‘Marketing the Rainbow’. By the way, if you thought that radio is no longer so opportune, read ” Radio power! The power of audio in your media mix “. But of course the visual aspect of TV is more appealing.
3. IKEA – Dining table (US, 1994)
This is often considered the first “rainbow commercial” to air on TV, but it was actually the third—and a limited-time one at that. In 1994, IKEA released this commercial, featuring a gay couple. This groundbreaking spot made headlines around the world. The two men, around 35, finish each other’s sentences and say, “A leaf means devotion.” (Read: a page in the story of life.)
At the end, one of the two says, “There’s another telegram database users list leaf waiting for us if we REALLY get along,” – perhaps implying marriage or having children. In any case, it took another 21 years before they could legally marry.
It was one of the first times an advertiser in the US had been open about a gay relationship. It wasn’t ” gay vague” * as many ads before or after this one had been: the two men simply declared themselves to be each other’s partners.
IKEA did have some reservations MThe spot was only shown once
in New York City and Washington, and only after 9:30 p.m. This was “out of respect for children.” Many mistakenly assumed the commercial was aimed at gay shoppers, but it was part of a larger campaign about “non-traditional” families, USV-Stromversorgungsmethode und Vorsichtsmaßnahmen including a mixed-race couple and a single mother with an adopted child.
The commercial’s director told the usa lists Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that it wasn’t a big deal to be the first company to show a gay couple together, and: “I was actually surprised when we first started looking at this that no one had done it before.”
The IKEA ad disappeared shortly after it was released, when the retailer received a bomb threat in a store – from conservatives, who simultaneously called for a boycott. Nevertheless, the commercial was popular with the gay community. The stereotype of being fashion-forward and tasteful was played into the ads, earning IKEA a sort of ‘Gay Housekeeping Seal of Approval’. One of the two actors is also openly gay, although he said that was not known when he was cast for the role.
Also read: Focus on diversity & inclusion: celebrate Purple Friday at the office
2. Politiken – Timian (Denmark, 1993)
In 1993, the Danish newspaper Politiken hired the – now famous – Danish film director Lars von Trier. The advertisement shows a humorous yet romantic scenario of a couple cooking – who coincidentally (?) turned out to be two men. The video is called ‘Timian’ (= thyme), and the story apparently has little to do with a newspaper, although…
The recipe that one man is making is in that newspaper. And from a kiss, the whole thing degenerates into the Jessica Lange/Jack Nicholson scene from ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’.
