Flip through the channels on TV and you'll undoubtedly see scantily clad woman selling beer or strangers icing up windows as they chew minty gum and flirt. But when's the last time you've seen a commercial with two guys holding hands?
This train of thought is becoming more common as companies begin directing more advertising to the gay community.
And it has the potential to be a significant market. Marketing firm Witek-Combs Communications pegs American gay purchasing power at $641 million this year.
Of Fortune 500 companies, more than a third (175) "were active in the gay consumer market," according to the 2005 Gay Press Report, an annual study of gay and lesbian publishing conducted by Prime Access, Inc. and Rivendell Media Co. In the same year, advertising in gay print media reached $212.2 million.
The Commercial Closet Association, a non-profit gay marketing firm, compiles and analyzes past and present ads that deal with gay themes to address their diversity.
Categories for ads include "positive" (which explicitly show an accepting, positive stance on gay relationships) and "negative" (making gays and their identity the brunt of jokes or portraying them as dangerous). Other ads are "stereotype" (which show an accepting attitude toward gays but play up canned views) or "gay vague" (which walk the fine line between gay and straight dynamics).
Such examples include Abercrombie and Fitch ads of semi-clothed men spooning or roughhousing in the shower. The company says they don't market to a gay demographic.
Jon Adler, a junior living in the Rainbow House, the LGBT special interest housing unit in Hillside Apartments, can recall some ads that specifically target gays.
"I saw some Orbitz ads, [and] a beer commercial where there was a woman who thought she was being checked out by a man but he was checking out another man," he said.
Senior David Dennis has also noticed the trend, spotting dating sites and underwear ads in Manhattan that target the gay community. Although these ads are still rare, students say they are viable.
"I see these ads for skinny muscle men, and I randomly find myself shopping [and] trying to fit their style," Dennis said. "Marketers are pretty good at preying on self-perception."
Freshman Lucian Nagle agreed: "If I knew that a company was actively supportive and not just tolerant, I would feel more comfortable with that company," he said.
Why this increase? Sociology Lecturer Jeffrey Langstraat, who studies sexuality and gender, immediately identified the main difference today versus a decade ago: more people are out of the closet.
According to Langstraat, 70 percent of straight Americans know someone who is publicly gay or lesbian. Since fewer members of the growing gay demographic have children, he said marketers see the group as having more cash to spend.
"Gay consumers have been willing to support those companies that have been willing to go out on a [limb], so there is a perception that gay consumers are more loyal and a perception that they have more money," Langstraat said.
From a media angle, the internet has caused an explosion of places to advertise, according to Julie Dobrow, director of Tufts' Communications and Media Studies program.
"Technology has enabled us to segment the market further," she said, explaining that instead of just targeting by sex and age group, ads can now segment their audience by sexual orientation.
Dona Yarbrough, director of the LGBT Center at Tufts, agreed that the gay community is considered a "marketing niche" by a number of businesses and companies - but she cautioned that with this specific marketing come stereotypes.
"Most marketing specifically directed at 'LGBT' people is actually targeting a small segment of the population - namely, upper-middle class, white, gay men," Yarbrough said.
Dennis was apprehensive that, "once companies become more comfortable marketing to us, they might also start to feel comfortable confirming stereotypes the way other minorities are stereotyped."
"I almost never see ethnic minorities or lesbians in these gay-steered ads. It's usually just white guys," Dennis added.
To some companies, the pitfalls of marketing to gays outweigh the benefits. According to Langstraat, companies should be very aware of consumer approval and tread carefully.
"A decade or so ago, a company might have been very wary, because there's a potential for [advertising to the gay community] being a controversial thing," Langstraat said. "The American Family Association has boycotted Ford for having gay-positive policies ... That's something companies have had to keep in mind," he added.
Dennis speculated that many companies still refrained from gay-targeted ads for various reasons.
"I assume it used to be too dangerous for companies to even market to a clearly gay demographic for fear of retribution from conservative groups," he said. "Not to mention, company executives could be homophobic in and of themselves."
Fortunately for companies considering marketing to LGBT people, a June 2004 survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation indicated that 81 percent of Americans don't care if a company whose products they use also markets them towards gays and lesbians.
