PICTURED Commercial Closet founder Michael Wilke with Dean Altvater of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, accepting the award for Outstanding Gay Market Campaign, and Ron Buford of the United Church of Christ, which won for Outstanding Commercial.
A United Church of Christ television commercial by Gotham Inc., banned by the big three television networks, was named Outstanding 2004 Commercial for its positive portrayal of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT ) people at the first-ever Commercial Closet Images in Advertising Awards in New York City recently.
The nonprofit Commercial Closet Association works to improve public opinion of the LGBT community through more informed LGBT portrayals in the powerful medium of advertising. The organization offers advertising sensitivity workshops and its Web site, CommercialCloset.org, houses the world's largest archive of LGBT-themed ads, with over 2,500 global examples, including ratings and analysis, Best Practices, and other resources.
Honored for its bold embrace of diversity, the United Church of Christ commercial stirred controversy with its portrayal of a male couple prevented from entering a church by two bouncers, and later shows a female couple.
Hosted by Merrill Lynch at its headquarters in the World Financial Center, the Images in Advertising Awards featured a special appearance by comedian Kate Clinton and was co-hosted by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy stars Thom Filicia and Kyan Douglas. Filicia and Douglas themselves are recent examples of how corporations including Pier 1 and L'Oreal, whom they have been affiliated with in commercials, are increasingly embracing openly gay celebrities as product endorsers.
Other awards presented at the event included:
— Outstanding Achievement by Advertising Industry Professional: Kenneth Cole, who has created attention-grabbing advertising for more than a decade that takes high-profile stands on political and social issues, including a 2004 campaign that promoted equal marriage rights.
— Outstanding Gay Market Creative Ad: Wyndham Hotels and its ad agency Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners were recognized for a series of ads that portrayed gay couples in a positive light and challenged clichés and stereotypes.
— Outstanding Mainstream Print Ad/Outdoor: PinkTV, France's 24-hour gay channel, was saluted for featuring a 1984 photograph of former French President Francois Mitterrand and ex-German leader Helmut Kohl with the headline, 'A relationship is about more than just sex,' which attracted significant media attention last fall for the channel's launch.
— The Clean-Up-Your-Act Notice: General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Colorado and Campbell-Ewald Advertising earned this dubious distinction for a television commercial in which several men in a pickup truck become noticeably uncomfortable when one male passenger loudly sings the Shania Twain hit 'Man, I Feel Like a Woman.'
'The winners of the first-ever Commercial Closet Images in Advertising Awards have played a powerful role in shaping public opinion of the LGBT community,' said Michael Wilke, founder and executive director of Commercial Closet Association. 'We're thrilled to salute the people and companies who are setting the standard for the advertising industry.'
Winners of the Images in Advertising Awards were selected by Commercial Closet's executive and advisory boards, which include leading advertising and creative industry professionals. The first round of nominees were selected by Wilke.
Founded by Wilke in 2001, Commercial Closet has become a sought-after authority on gay images in advertising. Along with appearances on CNN, CNBC, and Fox, Wilke lectures around the world with a highly acclaimed presentation on the history of GLBT portrayals in mainstream ads.
Wilke also writes a syndicated column, which runs in Windy City Times.
Commercial Closet is supported by annual grants from the David Bohnett Foundation, as well as corporate sponsorships from Absolut, American Airlines, Arbitron/ Scarborough Research, Bridgestone Tires, IBM, Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners, Merrill Lynch, Orbitz, Sirius Satellite Radio, Subaru of America, Tylenol PM, Wyndham International, and individual donations.
