Advocate, Out, Genre: Can You Say Irresponsible?
"Rumors" are what three major companies want us to call the reports that said
they are pulling their advertising from Ellen's coming out episode. Johnson & Johnson,
GM and Chrysler all say they were not planning to advertise on the April 30th episode even
before they found out that Ellen was going to make history. Yes history...that in 10 years
will be a bonus question on the $100,000 Triangle, a game show on GLCN (Gay Lesbian Cable
Network - "All Gay, All The Time"). I, for one, am willing to give these
companies the benefit of the doubt.
But with all the hoopla surrounding the threat of losing sponsors, I began to wonder about
things...like advertising. With my newfound interest, I picked up copies of the three
leading G/L magazines: The Advocate, Out and Genre. 'I must be hip, I read Genre."
Skipping over the pictures of the well groomed and bulimic, I looked for and read every ad
and came to a startling conclusion (well, okay, a "hmm' escaped my lips): on about
every other page was an ad for alcohol, cigarettes or Protease Inhibitors.
I guess it makes sense. I mean, alcohol companies have the luxury of being as PC as they
feel like since a Het with a homo hang up probably isn't going to stop his Gin-binge
because he found an ad for his favorite poison' on the back cover of Out.
Apparently the tobacco companies have caught on to that fact, too, as the pages of our
most popular mags are more and more becoming filled with ads for giving yourself lung
cancer. "Well, mainstream America is abandoning us, let's pull our heads out of our
butts and try to get more fags to smoke, they all have money (where did that myth
start?)."
It seems to be a common practice for things that are being edged out of or discarded by
mainstream society to be picked up, dusted off and put on a pedestal by the GLBT Community
(i.e., Sandra Bernhard, Nick At Nite...Thailand). Now it's cigarettes and alcohol. What
next-ads from drug suppliers? "Buy one gram of Coke at full price, receive a half
ounce of California Green!"
The bulk of advertising, however, is the 2 and 3 page ads for HIV Protease Inhibitors,
showing frolicking, flexing, shirtless people with seductive smiles, nuzzling and fondling
other frolicking, flexing, shirtless people with seductive smiles. At first I thought it
was cool, ya know, showing that HIV isn't stopping them from their frolicking and their
flexing. But taking off the PC tinted lenses; the basic message is still sex. And maybe
it's me, but using sex to sell a product to stop something contracted from having sex in
the first place seems, well...as tacky as Patty Duke's wardrobe in Valley Of The Dolls.
In all three mags there were ads for after you're HIV+, and ads for testing for HIV and
ads for preventing-wait a minute! Hold back William Shatner's acting! There's no
preventative advertising. Not a single condom ad! None-ziltch-nada! Hello! How about a
little preventative advertising before telling us how to tease our inhibited pros?
The only ads for rubbers were for rubber stamps and rubber underwear (hmm...). Used to be
that mags were filled with every size, shape color and flavor of condom· They'd glow in
the dark, have cartoon characters, French ticklers and leather spiky ones for the
adventurous. Now-nothing. Can you say irresponsible? I damn well hope so!
So what is this saying about our community? That we're alcoholic, chain smoking,
condomless gluttons? Well, yeah, but at least our magazines are getting published.
And so what if Ellen comes out and a few sponsors cause ABC to panic, drop the show and
sell it to Fox? Disney will still have a Gay Day...Ellen will still make history...and
it's still not my aisle. |
