Photos: These iconic adverts have been re-imagined with a lesbian twist
This innovative campaign recreates some of the world’s most iconic adverts – with lesbian couples.
The mock ads came about as part of a competition held by PrideAM, the world’s first LGBT+ group for the marketing and advertising industry, in collaboration with Diva Magazine.
The three winners of the competition re-imagine some of the very heterosexual ads from the world’s biggest brands, updating them for 2016.
Check out the winning ads below
1. Love Doesn’t Choose, Drum (Starbucks)
“We had some great ideas for a variety of brands but Starbucks was the most natural and purest fit that shone out from the rest.
“Executive creative director Steve Wallington conceptualised subverting the iconic Starbucks siren logo as an evocative symbol for the gay/ lesbian audience.
“The simple but elegant use of the Starbucks- branded coffee cups, positions dual sirens as kissing partners and is supported by a strong and emotionally resonant copy line: ‘Love doesn’t choose’.”
2. This is the Real Thing, Iris (Coca Cola)
“In the last few years, we’ve started seeing gay couples in ads, but it tends to feel either tokenistic or exploitative; good-looking ‘two dads’ types or sexy lesbians fresh from a Nuts centrefold.
“We wanted to make an ad with a real couple that positively reflects our culture today.
“When it came to choosing a brand for our realistic representation, we turned to the most iconic of them all – one that’s been boasting its authentic credentials as ‘the real thing’ since 1969.”
3. The New Blend, Iris (Nescafe Gold Blend)
“Arguably, the 80s introduced the most famous couple in UK TV advertising history.
“Their will-they-won’t-they story played out over 12 installments and six years. The couple’s popularity made them cultural icons of the time, and that made us think about how much has changed over the last 30 years.
“There’s plenty we’ve left behind when it comes to tastes and attitudes, and heteronormative assumptions are just as out of date.
“This is the point we’re making in the ad – it’s a rallying cry to an industry that considers itself a cultural trailblazer.
“Executing the idea, we’ve tried to persuade with a firm but gentle hand. It’s not a flag-waving, shouty kind of message.
“By switching the original lovers for a lesbian couple, we hope to make the viewer look twice. Then think twice.”
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DIVA Magazine said the competition was meant “to demonstrate that heteronormative assumptions about lesbians and bi women have no place in a forward- thinking advertising culture”.
Scott Knox of PrideAM said: “It would be great to see Starbucks roll this out internationally. As a simple campaign idea it would really catch on and add the Starbucks might to the growing list of corporate names supporting the LGBT+ equality agenda.”
DIVA editor Jane Czyzselska explained: “There are no prizes for guessing why patriarchal orthodoxy still reigns – heterosexual men often head up the top jobs and still control what we are permitted to see.
“In launching our competition we hoped we’d shake things up a bit in the industry, which seems uncharacteristically coy where LGBT consumers are concerned.”
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