Sex And Money: Feminism and Political Economy in the Media

14. Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity

Homosexuality is “a pathetic little second-rate substitute for reality, a pitiable flight from life. As such it deserves fairness, compassion, understanding, and when possible, treatment. But it deserves no encouragement , no glamorization, no rationalization, no fake status as a minority group, no sophistry about simple differences in taste—and, above all, no pretense that it is anything but a pernicious sickness.” —“The Homosexual in America,” Time, 21 January 1966 IBM, DKNY, American Express, Waterford, Dockers, Tattinger, Nieman Marcus, Circuit City, Virgin Atlantic, Smirnoff, Movado, Rockport, Bacardi, Versace, New York Times, Air New Zealand, Calvin Klein, Hennessy, Camel, Grand Marnier, British Airways, Eyeworks, Chivas Regal, Armani, Stolichnaya, Parliament Lights, Dr. Martens, Finlandia, Seiko, Freixnet, Lindemann’s, Graham’s Port, Beaulieu Vineyards, Clos Du Bois, Coors, Life Fitness, Verge, Creative Jewelers, Noa Jewelers, Tzabaco, Southern Comfort, Lucky Strike, Absolut, Kitchen Company, Prado, Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Hugo Boss, Diesel Denim, Tanqueray, Wilke-Rodriguez, Andrew Fezza, Dolce & Gabbana, Skyy Vodka, Moschino, Sauzo Tequila, Barneys, Solgar, Remy Martin, Aussie Hair, Kata Eyewear, Neptune Records, John Fluevog Shoes, Beverly Hills Institute of Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Bud Light, Propecia, Wilson Leather, Freshave, Metroman, Alize, Miller Light, Louis Vuitton, Baccarat, Gaultier, Benson and Hedges, Gianfranco Ferre, Bombay Sapphire, Nature’s Recipe, Merit, Tropica —Companies with full-page advertisements in the fall 1998 issue of Out, a national lesbian and gay magazine If the struggle for legal and social equality for lesbians and gay males is still being fiercely fought (and often lost), the struggle to treat them as full and equal citizens in the republic of postscarcity, postmodern hyperconsumption is all over but the shouting. The good guys (and some of the girls) won. While it is typical to think of lesbians and gay 196 14. Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity Fred Fejes males in terms of their sexual identities, with their emergence in recent years as economic subjects—self-conscious identities produced within the structure of commodity relationships—they have achieved an equality far greater than that found in the political or social realm. Indeed it seems the acceptance of lesbians and gay males as sexual/ political subjects is predicated on their acceptance and importance as consuming subjects. While in the past other marginalized groups have attained political power through the marshaling of economic resources , for lesbians and gay males it is not in their role as producers or controllers of capital, but in their role as consumers, particularly as a defined market niche attractive to advertisers, that they are offered the surest route to equality. Perhaps in the history of social movements this represents a pioneering political strategy in which pulling out the American Express Card has replaced the raised fist. An additional irony is that even while the commodification of lesbian/gay identity represents a pioneering political strategy, in many ways it reproduces the same old gender disparities. Lesbians and gay males may have achieved equality, but because of their more attractive income profile, advertisers decided early in the game that gay males are more equal than lesbians. Even in the Republic of Hyperconsumption governed by advertisers and marketeers the iron law of politics still applies: plus ça change, plus ça rest le même. Although at the birth of the gay liberation movement in 1969 homosexuals were perhaps one of the most marginalized, stigmatized minorities in the United States, it did not take long for advertisers to ask about the potential of selling to the homosexual market. Mindful of the stereotypic image of gay men as upscale, high-spending consumers interested in the latest in fashion (then as now, lesbians figured very little in these discussions), Advertising Age in the early 1970s began running periodic reports about the possibilities of marketing to gays. The first report in 1972 was not very hopeful. Noting that most advertisers were reluctant to have their product identified with a gay market, many media outlets would not use the word “gay” in an advertisement, and in any event most gay men were very closeted (Baltera 1972). Three years later Advertising Age reported that advertisers were becoming more aware of gay men as a separate market niche, yet, fearing a backlash from heterosexual consumers, they still were very reluctant to have their product identified as a “gay product.” Moreover they argued that they could reach the gay consumer through the regular advertising aimed at the straight market (Baltera 1975). Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity...