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ABSTRACT
This study introduces an intersectional analysis of explicit LGBT portrayals in mainstream advertising between 2009 and 2015. The analysis provides insights into the (in)visibility of the LGBT community over a period of significant social change. It finds that although the number of explicit representations of LGBT characters has risen dramatically, 230 out of 240 intersections of sexuality, class, age, and race remain invisible. In using a new ad format—human interest ads—advertisers move away from hypersexualization, toward real individuals’ stories of love and families. Nonetheless, the analysis highlights how the erasure of multiply marginalized groups in mainstream advertising continues to perpetuate a heteronormative, domesticized version of “gayness” and discusses the adverse effects that lie herein. It is proposed that non-LGBT consumers are the underlying target group of LGBT-explicit advertising, causing non-target market effects that alienate large parts of the LGBT community despite their overt inclusion.
Acknowledgments
Special acknowledgment goes to Dr. Stephanie O’Donohoe and Dr. Mary Ho for their continued advice and encouragement.
Funding
This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number 1499530].
Notes
1. Sexuality and gender identities are complex, dynamic, and contingent, based on constant processes of negotiation. The use of the proper terminology is a highly contested terrain and opinions differ across academia and in practice. In this article the term LGBT is used as it encompasses the four categories that ultimately appear in the analysis. The acknowledgment that LGBT advertising does not encompass the full variety of sexual and gender subjectivities is further critiqued in the discussion section.