WHERE SUCCESSFUL ADVERTISING MEETS LGBTQ+ EQUALITY

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Company: Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken
    View Company Scorecard / Contact Company
Brand: West Cigarettes
Ad Title: Grand Entrance
Business Category: Tobacco
Media Outlets: Cinema
Country: Germany
Region: Europe
Agency: Deepblue Networks
Year: 2003
Target: Mainstream
Ad Spotter: Magnus Tear
Company: Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken
    View Company Scorecard / Contact Company
Brand: West Cigarettes
Ad Title: Grand Entrance
Business Category: Tobacco
Media Outlets: Cinema
Country: Germany
Region: Europe
Agency: Deepblue Networks
Year: 2003
Target: Mainstream
Ad Spotter: Magnus Tear
Company: Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken
    View Company Scorecard / Contact Company
Brand: West Cigarettes
Ad Title: Grand Entrance
Business Category: Tobacco
Media Outlets: Cinema
Country: Germany
Region: Europe
Agency: Deepblue Networks
Year: 2003
Target: Mainstream
Ad Spotter: Magnus Tear
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Theme(s)

Trans Beauty

Camp/Gay Drag

Leatherman

Theme Breakdown

AdRespect Score: 
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A man in a leather outfit trudges through snow up the front sidewalk of a modest home decorated for Christmas.

He rings the bell and awakens a man with a gold mask over his face. As the fellow, a lithe, bald black man leans forward and looks over at the clock, he falls back into bed. Just then, another ring of the bell makes him bolt up, and fall out of bed, as a motorcycle revs up. Outside, the leatherman -- complete with dog collar and chest harness -- looks impatient. Two biker guys, in reindeer antlers and sunglasses, look on, waiting as well.

The sleepy man walks to the door in a well-filled red thong, and peeks through the peep hole to see who is at the door. Upset, he whispers "No!" and runs off with a frown.

The leatherman (in Germany Santa has an assistant called Ruprecht), now aware he has been ignored, begins pounding on the door, as the first man runs to his closet to begin selecting something to wear. The leatherman now tries his cell phone and gets an electronic voice that announces, "Santa is real busy, okay, press one..."

Santa, the black man, is now trying on a variety of outrageous outfits, including a sailor uniform and a shiny red tight jumpsuit, as he "sings" into a hairbrush, ignoring the persistent efforts to get him to exit.

Just as the leatherman is prepared to throw several sticks of dynamite at the house to rouse Santa, out SHE arrives in a huge platinum blonde wig, blue eyeshadow, white feather boa and lipstick to match the ruby red dress. As she sashays past the leatherman, he slaps her on the butt and she turns and looks back at him teasingly.

They all ride away in a sleigh led by a large motorcycle.

The tagline, "Test it."

This outrageously uncommon depiction of Santa as a drag queen

The openly gay director, Magnus Tear, notes many gay people worked on the effort and says, "I feel we somewhat freed poor Santa from his normally quite sugarsweet and hetero-linear presentation. Who said that Santa wasn't gay? Or bi? Or black or pansexual?"

He notes that the German classical myth about Santa's assistant Knecht Ruprecht (Knecht means something between Butler and Slave) is that he is dressed in black and chains instead of red. German kids are usually afraid of Ruprecht, as he is the one to check out if you been a good child the past year.

West Cigarettes does two or three cinema spots a year and is a frequent sponsor of gay events.

(Cigarette spots in Germany have lots of restrictions by law. They can only shown in cinema, all participants seen in the spot must be over 30 years old, you cannot show inhaling, etc.)

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Alessandro Cintoli , Rome, Italy
It is outrageously funny. Too bad it associates fun to cigarettes. I am a non-smoker now and I can't go to clubs anymore since everyone pollutes my gay lungs with their tar! Grr.

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