Hasta La Creative!

Tylenol is continuing its celebration of diverse families with a new commercial from J. Walter Thompson in New York featuring same-sex and interracial couples.

Titled “How We Family,” the ad is part of a broader effort to to challenge conventional—that is to say, conservative—definitions of family. Tylenol launched the campaign last fall by repurposing the classic holiday dinner scene in Norman Rockwell’s painting “Freedom from Want,” to profile contemporary families, including a lesbian couple who work closely with one woman’s ex-husband to raise the children from both relationships.

Sure, the tagline is a little clunky. And the cultural tides on LGBT issues have been shifting for a while now (a majority of Americans expect the Supreme Court to allow same sex marriage in the court’s imminent decision, and support it; brands have been increasingly open in embracing the LGBT community). So it’s a question of degrees as to how much Tylenol is pioneering, and how much it’s capitalizing.

But that also almost doesn’t matter. In a marketplace where some consumers still lose their minds over a Cheerios commercial with an interracial couple, and where the heads of reactionaries similarly explode over Tylenol’s decision to feature a same-sex couple in an ad, the brand deserves credit for using its ad dollars to spread a message that’s in exactly the right spirit … even with a desire to profit (and a considerable opportunity to do so) at the heart of it.

And while the topic might seem a bit far afield from the brand’s core business, it’s actually pretty appropriate for a product that makes pain go away.

“We’re not born with pride. We take pride. Pride in celebrating who we were born to be.”

That’s the message of Target’s #TakePride campaign for Pride Month, shared across the retailer’s social channels this week, and led by an 80-second spot that mixes animation, live action and documentary footage to create a message about awareness and equality.

“We’re not born knowing where our life will lead, the obstacles we’ll face, the joy we’ll find,” the voiceover says. “We’re not born knowing that these milestones are also stepping stones in helping us find our footing in what we stand for, and who we’ll stand by.”

The spot speaks to an evolving understanding of one’s true self and respect for one’s place in the world. And it does so in forthright fashion, noting that “heartbreaks” and adversity shape human experience and character. Its imagery acknowledges the long, complex, often rough road to enlightenment, mixing shots of San Francisco’s 1978 Gay Freedom Day parade with contemporary footage of two dads and their new baby.

So, the ad’s about a journey of discovery—for those in the LGBT community and, ultimately, for all of us.

In a way, that theme reflects Target’s—and in a broader sense, society’s—history with such issues. (Though it has positively portrayed LGBT people in ads for several years, some had questioned Target’s stance on progressive issues before its very public move last September in support of gay marriage.)

In a blog post on Monday, Laysha Ward, Target’s social responsibility officer, unequivocally stated the chain’s position: “Target proudly stands with the LGBT community, both as a team member and team player through all that we do—from our volunteer efforts to our long-standing partnerships with groups like Family Equality Council and Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, to the very products we carry in our stores and online.”

A gallery of rainbow- and “Love Is Love”-themed T-shirts, bow-ties, shorts, flip-flops and assorted paraphernalia follows.

Target is, after all, a for-profit venture seeking to sell stuff to as many consumer segments as possible. Yet its LGBT pitch is in step with the times, and in some ways transcendent, rather than opportunistic or cynical.

Just a decade ago, many mainstream marketers would have shunned such an appeal, fearing a backlash and boycotts from the right. Now, these pitches are becoming commonplace, part of the increasingly rich and inclusive lingua franca of modern life.

That’s a shift we can all be proud of.

The mainstreaming of ads with gay couples, which really accelerated in 2014 thanks to brands like Honey Maid, continues into 2015—and now it’s Hallmark’s turn to join in.

The greeting-card company is gay friendly—it’s been making gay marriage cards since 2008. But it evoked some ire from the gay community in 2013 when it replaced the word “gay” with “fun” on a “Deck the Halls” Christmas ornament in 2013. Also, it’s one thing to sell gay-friendly merchandize—it’s another to feature a gay couple in a commercial, as Hallmark has now done in its new “Put Your Heart to Paper” campaign for Valentine’s Day.

The campaign includes interviews with real couples, who talk about what they love about each other—and who are asked to describe their feelings for each other without using the word “love.” Among those featured are the lesbian couple Eugenia and Corinna, who star in one of the campaign’s cutest ads.

“This makes me so very happy and proud to be a Hallmark employee, who is also gay, and who has been pushing our idea of expanded love identities forward for a long time,” writes one YouTube commenter. “My heart is bursting, my eyes are spilling. Thank you for sharing your story with us, and your love with each other.?”

See more ads from the campaign below.

"It's proof that some denim really is just born that way," Steven B. Wheeler, lead designer at Betabrand, says in this promo for the fashion company's Gay Jeans.

What's cool about these pants is that when they are broken in, they reveal "brightly colored, rainbow-hued yarns underneath."

While Betabrand's rainbow denim may not be the first in its class, it's certainly the most philanthopic. Ten percent of proceeds from the crowdfunded project will be donated to the San Francisco LGBT Center.

Ame Corwin, advanced materials researcher at Betabrand, says on the website: "We hope Gay Jeans will help end generations of exclusion and unfair treatment for atypical denim. All jeans deserve equal rights, regardless of color, creed and fiber content."

If you'd like to order a pair of Gay Jeans, go to the site and drop $88 for "Slim-Fit" or $78 for the "Stretch-Skinny."

Are you straight? Don't worry. You can wear them, too. Gay Jeans won't make you gay anymore than "driving a Toyota will make you Japanese," the brand says in its FAQ. "If you put on a pair of Gay Jeans and begin experiencing gayness, chances are it's because you are gay."

Controversial ministry Abba's Delight has put up a billboard in Louisville, Ky., that targets "people of faith who are uncomfortable with their same-sex attractions."

Abba's Delight founder Daniel Mingo says the billboard, which tells unhappy gay people that "you have options," was intended to be a helpful message, so he was taken aback by the negative feedback he's gotten. Gay reform ministries are quackery to begin with, but they usually aren't this passive-aggressive. Abba's Delight is still denouncing homosexuality and claiming it's incompatible with religious faith, but if gay people are happy being sinful and wrong, this ministry seems to say, they can have at it.

Conversely, John Waters would say anyone who's seriously that conflicted and miserable being gay should do everyone a favor and not be gay, so there's that.

WDRB 41 Louisville News

Thanks to the country's anti-gay laws, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia have turned into a de facto platform for LGBT marketing. Earlier, we had the Canadian ad that said the two-man luge is "a little gay." Now, we have this crazy spot from Norwegian sports apparel retailer XXL.

It's an over-the-top, absurd blockbuster of an ad, with overly slick visuals, overly cheesy music and a "twist" ending you could spot from Moscow. And yet … somehow you have to love it. Its heart is generally in the right place, even if it plays out like a male fantasy. (And no, they probably wouldn't do the same ad with two men at the end.)

The ad premiered during Norway's broadcast of the Opening Ceremony last week.

CREDITS
Client: XXL

Agency: Schjærven Reklamebyrå
Account Director: Ole Marius Simonsen
Creatives: Jon Erik Skiælder, John Draleke
Agency Producer: Gard Andreassen

Production Company: Camp David, Stockholm
Producer: Kalle Wessblad
Directors: Bjørn Stein, Måns Mårlind

Location: Lleida Airport, Spain
Filming: Dec. 15-18, 2013
Line Producer: Dominic Bolus, Widescope Productions
Postproduction: The Chimney Pot, Stockholm

Music: Tommy Tysper

In recent years, LGBT imagery has been increasingly appearing in mainstream ads for major marketers. Italian pasta brand Barilla has apparently missed the memo. The company is drawing calls for boycotts from LGBT rights groups after Guido Barilla (above), its chairman, said in an Italian radio interview on Wednesday that Barilla "would never" create an ad featuring a same-sex family, reports Reuters. "Ours is a classic family where the woman plays a fundamental role," he said, adding that if gay people "like our pasta and our advertising, they'll eat our pasta. If they don't like it, then they will not eat it, and they will eat another brand." The company issued a statement Thursday with a pseudo-apology, apparently only sort of understanding that comments like Barilla's are going to make a lot of people—not just gay people—not like its pasta or its advertising. Via Gawker.

The outpouring of support has been impressive for NBA player Jason Collins, the first openly gay male athlete in a major U.S. professional sport. Marketers, though, have been largely silent about Collins since yesterday—except for Nike, of course, whom he already endorses. (In a statement, the company said: "We admire Jason's courage and are proud that he is a Nike athlete. Nike believes in a level playing field where an athlete's sexual orientation is not a consideration.") About an hour ago, though, JetBlue posted an image created by its ad agency, Mullen, showing a rainbow image of the "i-people" from the company's "You Above All" brand campaign—to show support for Collins. "Thanks Jason, today we're all on the same team," reads the caption on the image, which was posted to Twitter and Facebook. Response has been mixed, with many fans and followers lauding the airline for supporting Collins and others wishing it had stayed "neutral." The brand's courage here is but a shadow of the player's courage, but it's brave nonetheless. Have other brands come out in support of Collins? Let us know in the comments.

As thousands of consumers changed their Facebook profile pictures to equals signs Tuesday in support of marriage equality—a topic the Supreme Court is considering this week—two vodka brands led the brand charge in that regard. Smirnoff posted an image of three different drink pairings with the headline, "Every pairing is perfect." And Absolut, which has been gay-friendly for decades, pledged "Absolut Support" in its own Facebook photo. Which other brands have you seen making gay-marriage statements today?