WHERE SUCCESSFUL ADVERTISING MEETS LGBTQ+ EQUALITY



Compaq - Brian Benson Shower

Company: HP/Hewlett-Packard Co.
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Brand: Compaq
Ad Title: Brian Benson Shower
Business Category: Consumer Electronics
Media Outlets: Television
Country: Sweden
Region: Europe
Agency: DDB Needham Worldwide
Year: 2002
Target: Mainstream
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In documentary style, an average looking American man introduces himself as Brian Benson. He stands in a white terrycloth robe in his bathroom and says, "Last year I took a shower with a hundred women and took a picture of it, scanned them into my Compaq computer, and created a web site with it."

As he undresses, revealing his black boxer briefs and tummy, he continues, "Just using the computer to put my pictures up on the site has really changed my life, because there's no way I would've gotten this much recognition without the computer. I'm a hero of a lot of men, they call me genius or briilliant, or whatever." Polaroid snapshots of the women showering with him, and their numbers scrawled on the photo borders, flash by.

"This year, I'm planning to shower with a hundred straight men," then it cuts to him in the shower alone, lathering up. He says to future male shower candidates, "It's a practical, harmless shower!"

Back in front of the computer in the bathrobe, he says, "I've only showered with two men. I have 98 men to shower that I have to shower with by the end of the year." In the closing shot, his rear end is exposed. His final comment, "Come shower with me. Please... I won't bite."

While the sexuality of this man is unclear (Is he bisexual? Is he a REALLY comfortable straight man?), the handling is relatively neutral, though it's not clear why he needed to say that he planned to shower with straight men, since he didn't clarify that the women were or should be straight.

And his change of strategy suggets that he probably won't remain a "hero" to his previous followers!

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Out & Equal
Company: HP/Hewlett-Packard Co.
Brand: HP/Hewlett-Packard
Country:
Region: North America
Year: 2004


Your Ideas
Company: HP/Hewlett-Packard Co.
Brand: HP/Hewlett-Packard
Country: United States
Region: North America, US Regional
Year: 2001


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