Amazon’s latest ad for the new Kindle Paperwhite shows a heterosexual and a homosexual couple on a balmy and bright beach. As a female and a male bond over built-in light, their male spouses are off buying beverages. Not only are they saying, yes, gay couples are not an alien species and can and do enjoy holidays, but they’re also putting across a pretty powerful message. Beneath the sickly sweet American smiles, it’s quite a progressive advert. What’s really striking about it, is the fact that no one would be able to instantly guess about who in the advert is gay and who is not. There are no worn-out stereotypes.
Non-stereotypical gay man in the ad
Amazon must have been rubbing their hands together with glee after coming up with this innovative idea. The advert has received a very positive response and I’m sure everyone around the world will be ordering a new Kindle Paperwhite whilst at the beach. A conservative organization called One Million Moms wrote this about the advert:
“We hate Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite commercial that promotes gay marriage. Instead of Amazon remaining neutral in the culture war while showcasing how their product has no glare even at the beach, they chose to promote sin.”
Now the fact that a group such as this have been in uproar over the advert proves that things are changing and though some may be stuck in the 1950s, many (in and out of the gay community) are elated to see such progression. It is no longer necessary to portray the steadily fading nuclear family in order to sell a product.
Various bloggers have complained that the advert only appeals to about 10% of the population (estimated amount of gay people within England and America) but does this really matter? Just because a group of people is a minority, it does not mean you should exclude it (even if it is only mass marketing…). Besides which, we all know you don’t have to be gay to support gay marriage, and the gay community expands more widely than that 10%.
Advertising usually relies heavily on clichés and of course anyone trying to sell a product is conventionally attractive. Through trial and error, this has been proven the most effective method of making a profit. Shock factor is another winning technique. The advert does include conventionally attractive people (and a bikini-clad female. Although context shall allow that) and does use a form of shock factor. However, they don’t present it in any shocking fashion, it is only shocking to us because, well, we’re just not used to seeing a gay couple in a primetime television ad.
Image sources:
http://www.gaystarnews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/400xY/Amazon_Kindle_Paperwhite_Gay.png