Too many times we forget just how often the LGBT consumer is represented in marketing by local and international businesses. Not that long ago it was very rare for a company to reach out directly to the LGBT community in its marketing materials — TV especially commercials. Things have changed, and here are five touching commercials that show an LGBT family or, in two of them, boys coming out to their fathers, which the product advertised allows them to do.
The first commercial from Nordstrom about being home where your heart is for the holidays. The second is one with McCafe, part of the McDondald’s brand. In it the coffee cups give you a “word blurb” space to write in it, and this young man elects to tell his father “I like guys.” It seems super sad for a second but ends iwith something very heartwarming.
The next commercial is from Honey Maid. It shows different families and how “this is wholesome,” which I know relates to their brand. But to say that their brand represents all these different types of families — whether LGBT or straight — is a really powerful message. Then there’s Smart, the wireless service provider in the Philippines, that tells the story of a father wanting to add his son as a friend to social media and the son being afraid his dad will find out that he is gay. What the dad says to the son is beautiful.
Finally a very popular brand, Chevrolet, promotes a new car with the slogan: “While what it means to be a family hasn’t changed, what it looks like has.” This ad ends saying, “Chevrolet for whatever shape your family takes.” It warms my heart to see that these businesses really care about our community. True, they are trying to get us to buy something. But they also are making sure they show that our patronage of their business matters to them just as much as that of anyone else. Watch
