LGB HistoryWas there ever an anti-LGB backlash to an ad campaign with similar consequences to the Bud Light fiasco?

submitted by JulienMayfair from self.LGBDropTheT

I did a little googling of this topic, and while I found out that there had been an announced boycott of J.C. Penney back in 2012 over having Ellen Degeneres as a spokesperson for the company. J.C. Penney did reportedly lose money, but it was unclear whether that was a result of the boycott or of the company's general decline, which has continued even after the boycott was forgotten.

I can't think of any anti-LGB backlash that resulted in such a dramatic loss of sales, but I suppose that we now live at a time where all this stuff can go viral instantly, much more than in 2012.

I can't think of a case where a pro-LGB ad campaign went so directly against a brand identity as was the case with Dylan Mulvaney and Bud Light.

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[–]Q-Continuum-kin 14 insightful - 1 fun14 insightful - 0 fun15 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Not in the same way. There was some consternation over a few ads that I can remember but it never turned into this huge cultural backlash. It was basically the religious right and fox news complaining that there were 2 dads in a commercial about a random product. Gays were not trying to gain acceptance through acting up in commercials. We basically made sexuality incidental to the person not the center stage. The commercials I can think of were selling a product and sometimes you would see a representation of a family and there happened to be what appeared to be 2 dads etc...

The bud light thing is different because they are taking a tiktoker and putting the celebrity as the spokesperson, center stage. So it's almost like they are selling Dylan mulveny as the product, not the beer.

[–]Three_oneFourWanted for thought crimes in countless ideologies 6 insightful - 4 fun6 insightful - 3 fun7 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

To be fair, bud light wouldn't make any sales if they tried selling the beer as just beer. Lifestyle advertising is the only way they sell anything. That, and I think being cheaper than anything worth drinking?

[–]xanditAGAB (Assigned Gay at Birth) 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

So it's almost like they are selling Dylan mulveny as the product, not the beer.

with woke people, activism comes before anything else, even profit.

[–]Adventurous_Ad6212 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Sorry but no. the AH ad was all about the T not the LGB. And I support the Anti T narrative. its disgusting and unnatural.

[–]Femaleisnthateful 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

To be fair, many of the critics of Mulvaney are reading him (accurately) as a flamboyantly effeminate gay man. Its a turn off for consumers of a product traditionally marketed for blue collar men, and makes the target market feel like they're being 'conversion therapied' somehow.

My own objection to Mulvaney is not that he's gay or 'trans' (which I'm sceptical of anyhow) but that he's commodifying repugnant objectifying caricatures of women.

[–]JulienMayfair[S] 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think what really insults the Bud Light customer base is the assumption by the company that they would be into a man who projects a kind of ghoulish and disturbing impersonation of femininity.

[–]bucetao6969Ace spectrum | LGB should respect religion practicers 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I remember there was this one "biscuit war", basically there was the "love is love" biscuit and the "traditional values" biscuit, obviously which crowd you belonged boycotted one but bought the other. It was stupid and both companies made shitton of money lol. I think this all passed and people forgot about it.

The thing is, most conservative people see the gays as "normal". They see the people engaging in homosexuality the same moral crime as those feminists on talking panels who go like "I love cheating!" they would rather those people not engage in these activities but they aren't going out of their way to "talk sense" to them. The world is pretty "what you do on your lawn is your business these days". So we have lgbt flag on the spiderman game or 3 bathrooms on dead space game and most people are like "whatever, it's not on my face at least".

That doesn't mean LGBT stuff doesn't get "avoided". A lot of people stopped watching Disney movies because of the woke stuff. But that's not anti-lgbt, the lgbt things made these movie worse, so if they make good movies they will watch them like guardians of the galaxy 2 and spiderman 3, so it's not a boycott.

I think fat acceptance gets more hate than gay people from the rightwing these days.

[–]stunaep 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I think fat acceptance gets more hate than gay people from the rightwing these days.

lose weight

[–]bucetao6969Ace spectrum | LGB should respect religion practicers 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

fAaAaT hAaAtErRrR11!1!!!!!!!11

[–]RedJackalRampant homosexual 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There was plenty of backlash by conservative groups in the 90s and 2000s. Companies that offered domestic partner policies to their employees were targeted, along with companies that held special events for gays or were perceived to do so. Disney was an early adopter of domestic partner benefits, owned the channel Ellen was on (ABC), and had Gay Days at Disney World (though it wasn't officially sponsored). The Southern Baptist Convention voted to boycott Disney over these things.

I know that's not an ad campaign, but it's worth mentioning. Ads targeting the LGB at the time were largely restricted to gay publications like The Advocate.