Scholars have already explored the relationship between modern capitalism and gay identity in the US.
#FLAMBOYANT GAY DEFINITION FREE#
When commenting on "institutional negotiations," Gledhill (1988) writes, "the economics and ideologies of the free market produce a contradictory situation which lays capitalist production open to the necessity of negotiation" (p. THE RISE OF GAY IDENTITY AND THE GAY NICHE MARKET More importantly for this project, the ads are collected on the basis of explicit or implicit gay references that are identified, rated, and commented on by the Commercial Closet association staff. The website collects over 1,000 gay-themed television commercials and print ads from around the world, with over 700 print and broadcast ads from the North American market.
#FLAMBOYANT GAY DEFINITION ARCHIVE#
The sample of gay-referenced television commercials for the North America market reviewed in this study is obtained from the online gay advertising archive of the website, which belongs to the Commercial Closet Association, a non-profit educational and journalism organization that aims to "lessen social discrimination of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community by encouraging corporations and ad agencies to improve LGBT portrayals in mainstream advertising" (Wilke, ). Gay advertisements are defined in this paper as the ads targeting gay consumers by carrying implicit or explicit gay referencesfrom vaguely implying same-sex bonding, to explicitly showing self-identified gay charactersand by depicting erotic desire and affection for/between members of the same sex.
#FLAMBOYANT GAY DEFINITION TV#
This study focuses on the mainstream TV commercials that have the most significant impact on not only the mainstream perception of gays but also gay peoples self identity, especially for those who live outside gay ghettos where gay publications are not always available. Representations of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people designed via these strategies are then analyzed to further illuminate the type of gayness endorsed by mainstream marketers and mass media. This paper first identifies the common advertising strategies targeting the gay consumers.
Moreover, this study proposes to contribute to current understanding of queer representations in advertising by exploring the under-researched images of bisexual and transgender people. Whereas some studies about gay images in films and news have been done (Dyer 1984 Alwood 1996 Pasuris 2002), the topic of gay images in television commercials remains relatively new, and merits more research. In the last decade, a variety of representations in mass media of lesbians and gay men have appeared, generating fervent debates within the community over the effects of certain gay images on the gay rights movement and gay peoples self-identity. Linda Scott and Craig Thompson, Madison, WI : Association for Consumer Research, Pages. Wan-Hsiu Sunny Tsai (2004) ,"Gay Advertising As Negotiations: Representations of Homosexual, Bisexual and Transgender People in Mainstream Commercials&Nbsp ", in GCB - Gender and Consumer Behavior Volume 7, eds. Representations of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people designed via these strategies are then analyzed to further demonstrate the making and reading of gay advertising as complex negotiations. Television commercials made by mainstream advertisers aired on network television are reviewed. This paper first identifies the common advertising strategies targeted to the gay consumers: the gay window and out-of-closet advertising.
This study concerns the representations of LGBT people in mass media.