Gay-aimed variations of ads: new trend?

After passing on a link to the first Sims commercial (2001) and its variation (2001), somehow someone pointed me to an Orbitz commercial (2003) and its unlabeled variation (2003).

The Sims commercial follows a guy who walks up to two beautiful women and then gets slapped so hard that his green diamond (play the game and you'll understand) goes flying and is picked up by another gent. This new gent then leads a beautiful woman out of the bar......

The variation follows a slightly different path. After the player gets slapped, he goes to get his diamond back from the guy #2. The second guy doesn't give it up; all he does seem to do is pat his chest and then start bouncing weirdly. The first guy gives the "ah, what the heck" (thank you, adgrunt NoCloset ) look, and they start dancing together.

The Orbitz commercial features marionettes (scary, eh) who must find a hotel for a bachelorette party. Blah blah blah. Man says view is nice here, and the woman agrees as she eyes a lounging hottie at the pool-side.

Variation: Same commercial, sans bachelorettes for guys looking for a party, and the lines are reversed for the patio duo, as well as the possessor of the binoculars. It is noted that this ad was ran during Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and does feature an URL for gaytravel at Orbitz.

Now, as you can see in both commercials, the shots/plots/scripts are identical minus a few small details and sexual orientations.

So sound off: will advertising start creating multiple variations that tailor to different lifestyles, and if so, will advertising that works for one work for others?

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Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
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CopyWhore's picture

The thing is, there's a whole untapped market amongst gay consumers. Since so many of them are... Metrosexual, shall we say?, they represent an affluent group that relies heavily on brand identity. Believe me. I live in South Beach! Orbitz has taken a good approach, I reckon. But GNC and Banana Republic should follow suit. The gay buzz seems to give some brands a certain cache, which makes them more desirable amongst the straights with Metrosexual proclivities...

And anyone who's up to the task of starting an agency that specializes in GLS marketing, I'm sure there's lotsa money to made. Last place I worked, they had a department that specialized in bisexual marketing... err, that was just the media buying department, actually...

Robblink's picture

Yeah, I think marketers will devote more attention to the gay market. They are affluent, influential and have disposable income. Another desirable target are DINKS (double income, no kids).

For a huge library of gay commercials, you can click on the commercialcloset.org.

Dabitch's picture

AFAIK there is such an agency in Sydney, Oz, that opened a bunch of years ago - and had great success it's first year. The name escapes me right now, but I'm sure they are still around.

NoCloset's picture

Thanks for the heads up. :)

Anyone seen the adgrunt who won adgrunt of the year - adlove lately?

Dabitch's picture

no I haven't seen him. I emailed him back then, but not a peep...