Anti-Gay Marketing Does Not Sell

At Out Now we talk about understanding gay consumer marketing concerns a lot. So what about using homophobia to sell a marketing message? Not a very smart idea. Learn why.


Ian Johnson, Out Now
April 23, 2009

TOPICS: Homophobia. Anti-gay marketing messages. Snickers Super Bowl homophobia in marketing. Advertising with gay themes. Buzzfree. Youth marketing. So gay. Using anti-gay marketing messages in advertising is not smart.

Sometimes you find your head is left shaking at someone's misguided attempts at marketing.

In the US state of Texas - a well intentioned cause-related marketing campaign backed by kids retailer Claire's has gone badly wrong.

And the 'cause' to blame? Homophobia.

Buzzfree

There is a campaign called Buzzfree that was set up by a cause related marketer in the US city of Dallas. BuzzfreeProm.com is currently down but we link to it in case it returns soon so you can discover for yourself that the cause being marketed by that site is a very worthy one - keeping US teens sober and away from alcohol and drugs during their school lives.

A particular theme taken up by one of their ads though has caused me to shudder with the ill-informed understanding behind it.

Some might even call it marketing ignorance.

From a King to a Queen - to a real stinker of an ad

The latest advertising imagery selected by the Buzzfree campaign includes the image you see above, suggesting that if young men drink they will end up in jail and that means they will be raped by fellow male inmates.

Rape is detestable. Check.

Jail is not nice. Check.

Being a 'queen' is equally terrible. Right?

Well, that seems to be the general idea expressed by the headline of of this little piece of marketing strategy. Being a queen is so scary as to stop young men drinking.

The use of the word "queen" in the headline alone is enough to flag this effort for using homophobia to sell its message.

The ad copy though takes it even further:

"Tonight, his dance card is going to be full because he chose to drink underage. And instead of celebrating with his class on prom night, he'll be toasting his new best friends."

These days that is not just ill-informed, it is just dumb marketing.

Big marketing mistake

Most young people these days have gay and lesbian friends.

They will often socialize in gay and lesbian venues. At school there are Gay Straight Alliances in many US schools.

If you want to gain credibility amongst kids, using homophobia to do it is not really the smartest way to proceed.

"Homophobic? That's your opinion."

The creator of the campaign stood by her decision to use this marketing approach. Liza Orchard runs a cause marketing company and when interviewed said:

"The poster doesn't foster a fear of being homosexual but a fear of going to jail."

She adds:

"If you find it homophobic, that's your opinion."

Well yes, Ms Orchard, it very much is my opinion.

A quick 'Gay Marketing 101' lesson for all readers.

If you put a universal synonym for "gay" in the headline of your ad as the 'big and scary' element and tell young people to be afraid of becoming a queen if they drink too much, many won't bother reading the body text.

Even if your intention is not to be homophobic, it is really just shabby marketing not to at least think - even better market test this - how all target audiences might perceive an ad that uses homosexuality as a negative element of the advertising.

If you want more?

Learn though that Ms Orchard is not alone.

Advertising giant Omnicom got it very badly wrong for the Mars brand Snickers in its 2007 Superbowl advertising.

And discover that you need to be very careful if you want to use gay themes in mainstream advertising successfully.

It helps of course if you are using a previously negative youth term such as "So Gay" in a positive way.

But that's another story.

For now, as of last night, the Buzzfree campaign has been pulled.

Stopping kids drinking is a smart idea. Linking being gay to jail and rape to do so? Very not a smart idea.

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AdWeek recently referred to one of Out Now's gay advertising campaigns as "the year's most talked about tourism ads." Out Now Consulting is a leading global gay marketing specialist agency, founded in 1992. Clients include Barclays, IBM, Toyota, Citibank, German National Tourist Office, Visit Britain, Lufthansa and Time Inc. Magazines. Out Now recently won the "Outstanding Interactive" category in New York at the 'Images in Advertising' awards for an online campaign for their client Lufthansa.

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