Virgin Vodka is to launch the first British TV ad showing a gay couple
kissing, opening the floodgates for other companies to openly target the
pink pound.
The ad has been made in partnership with London bar The Edge and will
break on satellite channel MTV in March for a three-month campaign.
Virgin is also considering screening the ad on late night Channel 4.
The ad shows three hours of a night in gay and heterosexual bar The
Edge, condensed into a 30 second commercial.
The viewer sees a heterosexual couple kissing and a gay couple kissing
between shots of a Virgin Vodka bottle and branded Virgin glasses.
Observers believe Virgin’s decision will encourage other companies to
target the gay community. Britain lags behind the US, where ads for
companies like IKEA openly show gay couples.
Virgin has received permission from MTV’s regulators to screen the ad,
but the head of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre, Uisdean
Maclean, said the ad would have to be viewed before he could say whether
it was suitable for Channel 4.
‘The decision would depend on what goes with the kiss and on which
programmes it was shown between,’ he said.
The BACC has already received two applications for ads showing gay
couples, but neither have been screened. One was turned down and the
other was not deemed to be for BACC jurisdiction.
Only ads screened on ITV, Channel 4, BSkyB, UK Gold, Family Channel,
United Artists and Turner need BACC approval.
The BACC has confirmed that neither of the two ads were for Guinness,
whose plans to show a gay ad had to be scrapped following Marketing’s
exclusive coverage and the resulting media uproar (Marketing June 22
1996).
The Guinness experience has left advertisers veering towards caution
rather than risk losing their more conservative customers.
Research for Marketing by CIA MediaLab shows 41% of 25-to-34 year-olds
would be put off a brand if its ads showed a gay couple kissing
* See analysis p.13.
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