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Gay Advertisng - October 2004 - It appears gay advertising and marketing has finally come of age in Canada. In the past 30 days, the Toronto Chief of Police has been featured as a cover boy for Fab Magazine, with the story being picked up on the local news. The Commercial Closet web site has been shut down by right wing fundamentalists based on gay advertising created by a Toronto advertising agency. Canadian adertising and marketing stalwart Marketing Magazine has published an extensive feature regarding this country's gay market entitled They're Here, They're Queer, and They Love To Shop. The Royal Bank of Canada initiated an internal diversity program around their GLBT employees. And Toronto gay magazine Xtra, recently included a standalone publication, "Wedding Essentials For Same-Sex Couples" with their bi-weekly publication. That's the good news. The bad news? Well, it's all a matter of perspective. The more neutral headline: Multi-National Bank Asks Gay Workers To Show Rainbow Flag detailed the initiative across the wires. That headline was interpreted by one of the more rigorous right wing groups to read: Royal Bank Coerces Employees to Display Gay Pride Symbol, which, if nothing else, lends credibility to gay consumers as influencers. As for the Commercial Closet, the web site was shut down courtesy of an attack by the American Family Association who were opposed to gay advertising created by Grey Advertising for Procter & Gamble product Downy Wrinkle Releaser. There are however, a couple of wrinkles in the American Family Association tact. Procter & Gamble has long been a gay-market-friendly company. So long, in fact, that the ad in question was created over 4 years ago for the Toronto market. In addition, according to Canadian media publication Marketing Magazine, who spoke to Procter & Gamble, the ad never actually ran. Ultimately, the focus by the AFA on gay advertising is the sort of public relations and media coverage that money and audited circulation figures can't buy. But it's not all upside. The AFA has called for a boycott of Procter & Gamble and associated products. On the other hand, gay activists and advocates, ranging from publications to high profile organizations have called for a general boycott by gay and lesbian shoppers to better demonstrate the economic clout of the gay consumer segment. Should the two boycotts occur in concert, it could well lead to a rousing game of "marketer in the middle" with the economy taking the largest hit of all, and marketers left uncertain as to which way to turn amidst the two vocal groups. It is perhaps for this reason, if no other, that marketers should begin to acquaint and familiarize themselves with gay advertising. So they can, at the very least, begin to choose their battles. At stake is billions of consumer dollars, but it's not just about the pink bucks. If a national bank has thousands of gay employees, it may well be able to afford the risk of initiating a diversity program. And to be sure, and as demonstrated by grassroots initiatives of the right wing in a tolerant nation such as Canada, it is a risk. There are billions, trillions of dollars in assets that can be removed from the bank by a disgruntled faction should they become disgruntled enough. On the other hand, the bank needs also to sit back and look at their return on investment. Suppose, for a second, that there was no other large national Canadian bank demonstrating such a concerted effort. And suppose, for another second, you were facing an aging populace, a Baby Boomer demographic grown long in the tooth and graying at the sideburns. And suppose for a second that the gay population in Canada was, optimisticly, ten per cent. Suppose it's only five per cent. And suppose for another second that the overall illiteracy rate in Canada stood at somewhere around thirty per cent. And for another second, suppose that wasn't the case among the gay population in Canada. And suppose the gay population had higher than average incomes. And suppose for a second the gay population didn't have 2.37654568 children and all the associated costs. And suppose for another second, instead of college funds they had retirement funds. Suppose for another second, they carried, on average, higher credit card balances and higher mortgages. Just suppose. Oh, and suppose that the limited research available regarding the gay population in Canada did show that tolerance, or perhaps the better word is intolerance, was age related. The older, the less tolerant. The younger the demographic, the more tolerant. Now, suppose for just another second that this demographic, as with the general population, stood to be the benefactor of the largest inheritance ever handed down from one generation to the next. You can bet your assets there's a business case there. And you can bet your assets that there will be more gay advertising coming from the large corporations in Canada. It all comes down to the bottom line. But, much like the Procter & Gamble boycott, moving into this market segment will not be without its wrinkles. About Wilde Marketing Wilde Marketing is a gay advertising marketing consulting agency offering comprehensive advertising, marketing communications, strategic and public relation services to companies who understand the value of engaging gay consumers in this country. The company is located at 102 Pickering Street, Suite 3, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4E 3J7, 416.821.3074 phone. For more information, email Wilde Marketing. |
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