Some ads don't need headlines. Certainly this visual, along with the product, tells a story. But somehow I think that there's a headline here that could take this just a little further. For example:
And just what did you do with the oars?
Canoodling again?
...
Your turn...
This short animation is from Australian director Craig Boreham, whose longer films that deal with queer sexuality and desire have won awards at festivals around the world. He describes this animation as "dark" and I agree -- it takes all the illusory heat out of sex in public space and reveals its loneliness and desperation, the alienation from self and other. There, isn't that just what you were expecting for a Sunday morning cartoon?
Yes, now men don't have to feel left out of when feminine hygiene ads run on TV. Manjunk promises fight odor causing bacteria that impede your sex life. Of course, you can be the auteur and create the TV commercial — Manjunk is sponsoring a video contest for the best ad, with winners getting a
tropical vacation where no doubt, it will be hot and humid, so that product use will be essential. Unless of course, you are of the opinion that the fresh fragrance of a sweaty crotch is a turn on.
My favorite visual on the MJ website is the eye, looking through what can only be described as a gloryhole. You can't make this stuff up and if only for this reason alone I would include it in my ongoing Queer Product Watch. I imagine if you work for a client like this, you can sure have a lot of fun. Unless you use the product.
Then there is the ad campaign for Balls underwear, which can be seen at their site. It features famous men, in scenes we recognize, except for the fact they are only wearing the undies. My favorite is the one of Errol Flynn, who was one of the sexiest men ever to grace the silver screen, in his signature role of Robin Hood. It's a very silly campaign, but I still love this ad. And I don't believe for a minute that Errol Flynn would be caught dead with Manjunk under those brief. He might be caught dead with an underage girl in a hotel room, which in fact he was, since when he died his girlfriend was 17. But Manjunk? I think not.
Somehow I don't think a straight guy will feel compelled to pull something out of this guy's butt crack, however cute it may be. That said, this "interactive" print ad for Styx underwear, with the USP that the fabric won't automatically give you a wedgie, is pretty attention getting. The question is for the media buy in Vogue, where one wonders if, as in perfume ads, there is an added fragrance to the card. Ahem.
As it is so often, courtesy of Adsoftheworld.com
Peter Kehr and Dan Kelly at the Creative Circus created a campaign for DumDums, the lollipops that are not marketed to adults. Except this campaign almost suggests they should be selling the suckers in some adult toy stores. Visually witty work that will never run. But that's not what is important here. It shows the sense of play that is so important in this business. Hat's off. Or Jump suits unzipped.
One of the finest films on the subject of sexuality and oppression will be shown at the opening of the Chinese LGBT Film Festival, Friday at the LGBT Center in NYC. East Palace West Palace ranks up there with Genet's The Balcony as an examination of how sex, identity and power relationships are 
expressed not only in personal relationships but in polities. And it is an examination of how the state
becomes a presence in the bedroom, and in the fantasies, of its citizens.
The story is simple: a policeman arrests and interogates a man who was cruising in one of Beijing's most notoriously busy public toilets. What happens is anything but simple and delivers an emotionally searing experience. The really amazing thing is that it got past the Chinese censors because they didn't understand how politically subversive the film is.
However, if you tend to like action films, East Palace West Palace is not for you. Like many foreign films, it moves slowly, developing a powerful emotional punch quietly. This is not the American was of film making, and for that reason, it didn't really find an audience when it had its theatrical release in NYC ten years ago.
This is a rare chance to see it again, in a room filled with Chinese gay men (be still my heart) who will no doubt be eager to talk about it afterwards with an intelligence and insight you won't have access to if you watch it at home on DVD alone.
I am only sorry to say that I am out of town this weekend, or I would be there myself to see the film again, and to enjoy the fantasy of finding a Chinese husband (you can apply here by emailing me anyway!).
Rare to see condom advertising without the essential heterosexual couple looking at each other longingly. At lest in the U.S. This campaign (from Euro RSCG courtesy of adsoftheworld) from Germany features three print ads for a flavored condom. I can't find any info about the company that makes these other than a mention that in another campaign their slogan was "Get there later." Well, this lovely ribbed chocolate bar suggests another old slogan to me: melts in your mouth, not in your hands.
Avenue Q — the Broadway musical — has inspired a large number of animators and mash-up artists to create short films taking songs from the show and matching them to animation. One of the more popular songs to get this treatment is "If You Were Gay," a sweet song of sung by a straight character to his best friend and room mate, a closeted gay character. One of the more recent versions on YouTube features original animation:
But just as interesting are the mash ups taken from Japanese yayoi anime here, here and perhaps most brilliantly, here. There are versions edited to other films, like Austin Powers, and version edited to episodes of SpongeBob. Personally, I would love to see this mashed up with bits and pieces of old Laurel and Hardy films. Let me know if you find any that you think are particularly brilliant.
Ad Age columnist Bob Garfield sent an open letter in his column to the CEO of one of the top agency holding companies, accusing the network of homophobia in several campaigns. He wrote:
"Stop the dehumanizing stereotypes. Stop the jokey violence. There is no place in advertising for cruelty. Pull the campaign. Do it now."
Strong language. And I have to say, the Snickers campaign, which was roundly pilloried when it broke during the Super Bowl (a ritual of homo erotic masculinity that requires homophobic expression to distract us from the obvious), continues to be abhorrent. It glorifies homophobic violence, and Garfield says of the newest addition to the campaign that:
"your commercial is just a cartoonish recapitulation of {Matthew Shepard's] brutal murder"
Strong words. It is heartening to see heterosexual columnists take offense and speak up. Of course, to pin this on the CEO of the holding company seems a little too much. The CEO of the offending agencies? Sure. They are responsible. And bringing to the attention of the holding company isn't a bad thing. Pressure from the outside to an agency is one thing. Pressure from the holding company — that's serious.
Perhaps even more fascinating are the reader comments — there are lots. If you're interested in reading real opinions from people in the ad biz on the subject of homophobia in media, this is a goldmine of information. 
But let's stop for a minute to analyze just what is going on in this new Snicker's spot. First we see a blond man with soft features speed walking down a suburban street. The camera cuts to a rear view and rests for a few precious TV seconds on his wiggling butt.
Next, a vehicle with Mr. T. crashes through a house and follows the walker while Mr. T harangues him for being a "disgrace to the man race." Visually we see the machine gun from
the POV of the shooter (very video game, because of course this is targeted at insecure teen boys and young men who need to be reassured about their masculinity — after all, there is nothing more masculine
than playing with a computer right?) pointed directly at aforesaid butt.
Uhhhh, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But in this case? Not. Just more subconscious homosexual desire expressed in violence.
But this is where Garfield is dead on the money — the spot makes a violent response to inner desires that are unacceptable, acceptable. And that's unacceptable. One commenter points out that regardless of the agency, the clients bought off on this. So as much as I may love chocolate, Mars doesn't get any of my money. And I'm sure GLAAD will consider some action around this:
Yep, that's pretty damn bad. So while the holding company Mr. Garfield accuses does in fact treat its gay employees very well, this is seriously uncool. There are different opinions in the business classically about our influence.
One of my heroes, Bill Bernbach, one said:
"All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level."
David Ogilvy, who believed that humor in advertising was a mistake, said:
"Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them."
The truth lies somewhere in between. Nevertheless, I hold with Bernbach.
Religion has been used to generate mass hysteria for political ends for thousands of years now. But there have been few films that show the process so clearly. Ken Russell’s film, The Devils is the movie about EVERYTHING: the spirituality and lust in love; the madness and transcendence of sexual repression; using the threat of an imagined enemy to create state sponsored 
terror; justifying the use of torture to extract forced confession…. Watching this movie one can imagine the twisted and tortured mind of Roy Cohn
while watching Vanessa Redgrave suffer the madness of desires that she demonizes and projects onto others. Not to mention the hypocrisy of Ted Haggard, Larry Craig and so on and so on.
This is a truly important movie. And it is simply criminal that it isn’t available on DVD. The VHS tape version is poor quality, and it has been cut. However there is a petition to Warner Home Video. And if you’ve seen this film and want to make sure others can, please sign the petition. If you’ve haven’t seen the film, read what others have to say about it, and then sign the petition.
