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Funny, scary, dead: Negative depictions of male homosexuality in American advertising
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine negative depictions of male homosexuality in US print and video advertising during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It answers three research questions: What sorts of negative depictions of homosexuality are presented? How, if at all, have pejorative depictions of gay men evolved in the past 100 years? and Why have they changed?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors specify eight depictions of negative imagery in advertising and, using content analysis, assess 88 print and video advertisements featuring 133 depictions culled from a large sample.
Findings
Analysis reveals that, once rare, there has been a rapid expansion of negative gay imagery in advertisements beginning in 2000, even as gays are gain increasing acceptance and visibility. Typical advertisement depictions have evolved from men dressed as woman early in the twentieth century to men reacting with fear, revulsion or even violence to concerns that they might be gay or be subject to homosexual advances.
Research limitations/implications
Given the paucity of available imagery, data collection was opportunistic and resulted in a relatively small sample.
Practical implications
Practitioners can benefit from explication of how various audiences can view certain advertisement depictions of gay men as insulting or threatening. They can then become more attuned to the impact of negative minority depictions in general.
Social implications
Society can benefit from heightened awareness of the impact imagery can have on minority or marginalized groups. Results further illustrate society’s evolving and ambivalent views on homosexuality, the visibility of gay imagery in media in general and changing notions of manhood and masculinity.
Originality/value
The authors are aware of no other study that specifically categorizes and assesses negative depictions of gay advertisement imagery.
... A second gap consists in the focus on print advertising from the previous research that focus this topic. We find only one study that makes experiments with obsolete VCR technology to display TV ads (Branchik & O'Leary, 2016). On the other hand, there is a widespread shortage of studies on applications and use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), and no article focuses directly on applications relevant to Marketing (Loureiro, Guerreiro, Langaro, Eloy & Panchapakesan, 2019). ...
... The age has also influence on the adoption and intention of adoptions of VR and AR: these two generations report highest intention to try AR in a survey conducted by IBM Institute for Business Value (McCarthy, 2019). Concerning the viewers' attitude toward LGBT people, the idea that perceptions of homophobia moderate consumers' attitude toward advertising featuring LGBT characters has been extensively studied (Branchik & O'Leary, 2016;Martinez, 2020) and we expect that, repeating some of the experiments, the results will now be different from the past studies. Our final moderating variable is the exposure time lag, that we already referred in the first section of this document. ...
... Podemos sugerir que há uma maior adesão de grandes empresas sobre temas da comunidade LGBTQI, contudo, (ainda) não é possível afirmar se tal adoção promove ganho mútuo, sendo esse um dos motivos pelo qual realizamos essa investigação. Observemos que mesmo depois de passadas algumas décadas em que grandes marcas abordagem o tema LGBTQI em suas campanhas, ainda é possível encontrar representações negativas, pejorativas ou preconceituosas na publicidade sobre minorias (Branchik & O'leary, 2016). ...
Objetiva-se investigar como a categoria pinkwashing pode contribuir para uma análise crítica sobre o uso das pautas LGBTQI por marcas engajadas. Realizou-se uma pesquisa documental com três grandes marcas mundiais em suas subsidiárias brasileiras, a partir dos posts publicados em redes sociais virtuais selecionando aqueles com maior engajamento, seguida por análise temática qualitativa do conteúdo. O resultado indica que a categoria pinkwashing contribuiu para a caracterização de práticas corporativas que intentam passar uma mensagem invertida sobre sua atuação, evidenciado em uma das três marcas investigadas. Conclui-se com uma discussão sobre os limites da representatividade para as pautas sociais.
... Sheresheva and Ovseenko (2015) have analyzed the development of Russian print advertising in 1917 with the previous decades of the "Russian economic miracle". Branchik and O'Leary (2016) have examined the negative depiction of male homosexuality in print and video advertising at USA during twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Previous literature has discussed the history of advertisement in various periods and specific context in different countries of the world. ...
The aim of this study is to understand the philosophy of advertisement along with its historical development around the world. Its main purpose is to clarify the origination of advertisement, paper and printing phase, digital phase and the future of advertisement. This study is based on the secondary sources to clarify the gap of knowledge, understand the thought of advertisement and its historical development such as "Journal of Historical Research in Marketing" and others. The study has noted that advertising is the best practice to present business information (paid form non-personal communication) in painting, paper, printing, and dominantly in digital form around the world. It has anticipated that the technique of digital advertisement to spread business information in personal way is rapidly growing around the world. There has been little research to present a comprehensive overview to the nature of advertisement along with its wide historical development (origin, paper and printing phase, digital phase, future phase) around the world.
Resumo Os indivíduos LGBTQI+ compõe um grupo de consumidores que vem atraindo atenção de profissionais de marketing, principalmente pelo seu potencial de consumo. Assim, esse artigo tem o propósito de mapear os estudos em marketing que tem como objeto de pesquisa o consumidor LGBTQI+, no período que compreende os anos de 2009 a 2019, na plataforma Web of Science. Para tanto, 31 publicações foram encontradas para análise final. Como resultados, foi possível constatar a existência de cinco linhas principais de pesquisa. A partir dessas linhas, identificou-se as lacunas existentes e sugeriu-se pesquisas futuras.
Abstract LGBTQI+ people are part of a group of consumers that has been attracting the attention of marketers due to their consumption potential. This article has the purpose of mapping marketing studies that have the LGBTQI + consumer as their research object, in the period from 2009 to 2019, in the Web of Science platform. For the final analysis, it found 31 publications. As a result, it was possible to verify the existence of five main lines of research. Gaps were identified based on these lines and suggested for future research.
The purpose of this paper is to explore how gay men manage their identities both within and outside the gay community by drawing on post-gay discourses, which surmise stigma against the gay community as a thing of the past. Implementing qualitative methods, the findings show that a post-gay subjectivity is produced via a series of camouflage strategies, which enable consumers to assimilate into mainstream society, whilst acquiring cultural membership and recognition. This research illustrates how these strategies function as cultural repertoires that improve consumers’ well-being while paradoxically reproducing heteronormative power relations that exacerbate stigma and diversification both within and outside the gay community.
Resumo Os sujeitos LGBTQI+ compõe um grupo de consumidores que vem atraindo atenção de profissionais de marketing, principalmente pelo seu potencial de consumo. Esse artigo tem o propósito de mapear os estudos em marketing que tem como objeto de pesquisa o consumidor LGBTQI+, no período que compreende os anos de 2009 a 2019, nos periódicos nacionais de classificação Qualis estrato A2 e também na plataforma Web of Science. Para tanto, 31 publicações foram encontradas para análise final na plataforma da Web of Science e uma publicação em um dos periódicos nacionais. Como resultados, foi possível constatar a existência de cinco linhas principais de pesquisa. A partir dessas linhas, identificou-se as lacunas existentes e sugeriu-se pesquisas futuras.
This chapter reviews many of the key ideas of advertising as texts and as a central element in the political economy of television, focusing especially on points raised by the extensive critical literature on television commercials. It highlights how ads as texts and financing influence the ideological messages on television – what particular social groups, institutions and practices are portrayed as winners and losers; and what cultural ideas are promoted or suppressed. Although examples from many countries are discussed, the chapter focuses on research about US television advertising, in many ways the archetype broadcast advertising model that set the bar a gaudily decorated and corrosive bar, admittedly for the rest of the world's commercial television systems. It explores two themes raised by television advertising critics: the degree to which television commercials fetishize the commodity and commercial form, and the ideological implications of representation in television ads.
This article reviews the work of significant humanities and social science scholars for their thoughts and theories about advertising's social and cultural consequences. In brief, they view advertising as instrusive and environmental and its effects as inescapable and profound. They see it as reinforcing materialism, cynicism, irrationality, selfishness, anxiety, social competitiveness, sexual preoccupation, powerlessness, and/or a loss of self-respect. Drawing heavily on original sources, these ideas are synthesized into a framework that structures advertising's supposed effects and causalities. Also discussed are the problems and prospects for needed research and the moral imperative for this research.
We conducted a simulated trial study to investigate the effectiveness of a "gay-panic" provocation defense as a function of jurors' political orientation. Mock jurors read about a murder case in which a male defendant claimed a victim provoked the killing by starting a fight, which either included or did not include the male victim making an unwanted sexual advance that triggered a state of panic in the defendant. Conservative jurors were significantly less punitive when the defendant claimed to have acted out of gay panic as compared to when this element was not part of the defense. In contrast, liberal jurors were unaffected by the gay-panic manipulation. The effect of the gay-panic defense on punitiveness was mediated by conservatives' decreased moral outrage toward the defendant. Implications for psychological theory and the legal system are discussed.
Asian-Americans are a growth market. Their affluence, high education, and work ethic position them as a “model minority.” However complimentary that term may seem, it nonetheless represents a stereotype whose prevalence must be documented to examine the intersection of minority status and gender in mass media portrayals. The authors report a content analysis of more than 1300 prime time television advertisements conducted to assess the frequency and nature of Asian-American representation. They found that Asian male and female models are overrepresented in terms of proportion of the population (3.6%), appearing in 8.4% of the commercials. However, Asian models are more likely than members of other minority groups to appear in background roles, and Asian women are rarely depicted in major roles. Further, the findings indicate that portrayals of Asian-Americans put so much emphasis on the work ethic that other aspects of life seldom appear. For example, Asian models are overrepresented in business settings and relationships and underrepresented in home settings and family or social relationships. The findings suggest opportunities for advertisers who depict Asian-Americans in nonstereotypical ways.
Prior studies of portrayals of Asian Americans in advertising have found limited representation and portrayals that are skewed toward technology-based products, business and science magazines, and business settings and relationships. This article examines current Asian American portrayals. Findings indicate that, despite improved representation, stereotyped portrayals persist. The “model minority” stereotype, which suggests that Asian Americans are hardworking, technologically savvy, business oriented, successful, and well assimilated, is clearly reflected in advertising portrayals. Portrayals of Asian Americans in family and social contexts are seldom seen. Moreover, even magazines with high Asian American readership reflect the same stereotypes.
This article examines a postmodern construct of masculinity in which male identity is based on consumption, a traditional role for women, rather than production. Data for this qualitative content analysis were drawn from a sample of Men's Health magazine. Analysis of the front covers, stories and features, an advice column, and advertisements reveals a construct that I identify as "branded masculinity." Branded masculinity is rooted in consumer capitalism wherein corporate profit can be enhanced by generating insecurity about one's body and one's consumer choices and then offering a solution through a particular corporate brand. The form of branded masculinity found in Men's Health constructs muscles combined with a fashion sense and the appearance of financial success as the necessary characteristics for a real man today.
This paper investigates consumer responses to gay families portrayed in advertising, drawing on critical visual analysis, reader response analysis and queer theory. Twenty-five consumers were interviewed about a selection of family oriented ads. Several themes emerged from the interviews, including straightening up – reading apparently gay images as heterosexual, or straight, despite rather overt gay signals. This important interpretive phenomenon seems to "interfere" with processing of apparently gay imagery, revealing interesting interpretive strategies. Findings are discussed within the advertising as representation research tradition, and illuminate interpretive strategies that consumers use when confronted with culturally sensitive images in advertising.
This report presents national estimates of several measures of sexual behavior, sexual attraction, and sexual identity among males and females aged 15-44 years in the United States, based on the 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). These data are relevant to demographic and public health concerns, including fertility and sexually transmitted infections among teenagers and adults. Data from the 2006-2008 NSFG are compared with data from the 2002 NSFG and other national surveys.
Data for 2006-2008 were collected through in-person interviews with a national sample of 13,495 males and females in the household population of the United States. The measures presented in this report were collected using audio computer-assisted self interviewing (ACASI), in which the respondent enters his or her own answers into the computer without telling them to an interviewer. The overall response rate for the 2006-2008 NSFG was 75%.
Sexual behaviors among males and females aged 15-44 based on the 2006-2008 NSFG were generally similar to those reported based on the 2002 NSFG. Among adults aged 25-44, about 98% of women and 97% of men ever had vaginal intercourse, 89% of women and 90% of men ever had oral sex with an opposite-sex partner, and 36% of women and 44% of men ever had anal sex with an opposite-sex partner. Twice as many women aged 25-44 (12%) reported any same-sex contact in their lifetimes compared with men (5.8%). Among teenagers aged 15-19, 7% of females and 9% of males have had oral sex with an opposite-sex partner, but no vaginal intercourse. Sexual attraction and identity correlates closely but not completely with reports of sexual behavior. Sexual behaviors, attraction, and identity vary by age, marital or cohabiting status, education, and race and Hispanic origin.
At the 2006 conference of the International Society for Humor Studies (Danish University of Education, Copenhagen), several panels addressed issues raised by the Muhammad cartoon story. Among these, a colloquium organized by Paul Lewis and decorously titled “Transnational Ridicule and Response” focused on the implications for humor research of the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons. Along with other materials, panelists were encouraged to review summaries of and timelines for the story available from the BBC and Wikipedia. Of the questions considered by panelists, the following drew interesting and, at times, provocative responses: Were the cartoons humorous; if so, did they represent a distinct or new kind of humor? Were the modes of global transmission of the cartoons new? Does the story have implications for ongoing humor research and advocacy? The goal was to approach the controversy not as partisans with particular political outlooks but as students of humor. The brief essays collected here were written following the conference by members of the panel (Christie Davies, Giselinde Kuipers, Paul Lewis, and Victor Raskin) and by two others who attended the colloquium (Elliott Oring and Rod A. Martin). After reviewing the essays, HUMOR editor Salvatore Attardo suggested that each of the participants be invited to read what the others had written and submit a brief response. Responses included here were received from Davies, Kuipers, Lewis, Oring, and Raskin.
This article explores some of the purposes, advantages, problems, and limitations of periodizing marketing history and the history of marketing thought. A sample of twenty-eight well-known periodizations taken from marketing history, the history of marketing thought, and business history is used to illustrate these themes. The article concludes with recommendations about how to periodize historical research in marketing.
This article presents a content analysis of ads that have used Negro models or actors in selected mass circulation magazines over a 20-year period-a communications research technique seldom used in marketing. Results indicate that the frequency of using Negroes has not increased over the 20-year period. Instead it decreased in 1956, and by 1965 it merely reached the 1946 level. The Negro's occupational status, however, has risen significantly, but he is still seldom found in conventional middle-class settings.
Violence in the media has been an issue of research and public debate for many years. An examination of current humorous ads reveals widespread portrayal of men as victims of violence or in denigrating situations that are construed as humorous. This portrayal of men is an unanticipated twist on traditional themes of gender and subordination and suggests a change in what it means to be "male" in contemporary consumer society.
Common and diverse depictions of gay men in American print advertising are recent phenomena, dating from the mid-1990s. However, gay male images have appeared in print advertisements since early in the last century. Using a framework categorizing minority depictions in media over time and adapted for this study, a chronological series of twenty-five print advertisements are analyzed dating from 1917 through 2004. In these ads, gay male images complying with one or more of the ten criteria established for this study are found to change over time. This evolution of imagery is categorized into four stages: (1) targeted recognition, (2) ridicule/scorn, (3) cutting edge, and ultimately, (4) respect. The evolution reflects society’s changing view of homosexuality and the media’s changing role in portraying gay men. It further can be analyzed within the context of the history of the United States’ gay community.
Although marketers generally consider homosexuals to be a desirable market segment, they are not targeted using mainstream media because it is expected that heterosexuals will react negatively to homosexual advertising messages. However, this study found that consumers' response to heterosexual or homosexual advertising content was affected by the type of homosexual imagery used in the advertisement and the gender and sexual orientation of the consumer viewing the advertisement. The findings indicate that marketers advertising to homosexual consumers using the mainstream media should use advertising incorporating gay and lesbian subcultural symbolism whenever possible.
This study examined the frequency of portrayal, positive or negative depiction, relative hierarchy position, and relative social authority status of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and White American models in a sample of consumer magazine advertisements, utilizing content analysis. A longitudinal framework was employed in the study to determine if the patterns of depiction have stabilized or have experienced meaningful change over a ten‐year period. In contrast to previous studies, the results were generally that minority group models were frequently featured, relative to their proportion in the total US population, and they were depicted in a favorable manner, relative to White models, during the periods under consideration.
Marketing communication has come around, it seems, to embracing the gay consumer market. Research indicates that gay consumers are affluent, well educated, and in possession of disposable income. Marketers, capitalizing on this market, have been creating gay-themed ads. This study, an exploratory content analysis, considers how gay-themed ads differ from that of conventional ads. Looking closely at the dominant appeals and product categories of such ads, this study finds that they reflect the demographics and psychographics of gay consumers. The study also finds a variety of iconography or symbolism of gays in gay-themed ads. Especially, rainbow flags were used prevalently, in implicit or explicit fashion. This finding cross-validates the literature that suggests that gay specific symbolism or iconographies could be used to minimize the risk of alienating heterosexual consumers. This study helps us understand the current phenomenon of print ads in a gay or lesbian magazine, especially advertising with gay specific content.
Although advertisers have flooded gay and lesbian print media in recent years, it is estimated that more than half of the gay and lesbian population does not read gay media. Hence, this study addresses the question: How may marketers target gays and lesbians in mainstream media without alienating heterosexual consumers? As such, this study assesses responses of both heterosexual and homosexual consumers to advertising content that includes mainstream imagery, implicit gay and lesbian imagery, and explicit gay or lesbian imagery to provide advertisers with a better understanding of how to effectively crossover into mainstream media with gay-targeted advertisements. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Images of Native Americans and of aspects of Native American culture are common in advertisements in the United States. Three such images can be distinguished — the Noble Savage, the Civilizable Savage and the Bloodthirsty Savage images. The aim of this paper is to argue that the use of such images is not morally acceptable because these images depend upon an underlying conception of Native Americans that denies that they are human beings. By so doing, it also denies to them any moral standing and thus any claim to moral consideration and treatment. I begin by arguing that the traits which are distinctively human are fostered only within a cultural framework consisting of the accumulated knowledge and activities of a group of human beings. I then argue that savages are conceptualized as natural and cultureless beings. Furthermore, within the traditional Western conceptualization of the world mere natural objects have no moral standing. Thus, it follows that Native Americans insofar as they are also merely natural objects would have no standing or status as moral beings. The conception of Native Americans as savages undercuts the very conditions for the possibility of moral respect. I then turn to an application of these principles to some current commercial uses of images of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples.
The use of documentary evidence such as historical records, novels, existing advertisements, and photographs has been little used in consumer research. This paper presents an exposition of content analysis methodology and, tangentially, reviews the existing studies in consumer behavior using this rich approach.
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