James Franco Dropped By Advertising Campaigns Over His Gay Themed Films http://www.back2stonewall.com/2013/03/james-franco-dropped-advertising-campaigns-gay-themed-films.html

In a red carpet interview last week at SXSW, James Franco suggested that he has been dropped from three advertising campaigns due to his involvement in two gay-oriented films he put out at Sundance, and not due to his image as the companies reported. He produced Kink and co-directed and starred in a forthcoming Travis Matthews film, Interior.Leather Bar. Franco suggested that this exemplifies the homophobia that still exists in American media. As many advertisers have already begun to notice, gays and lesbians will only continue to become an increasingly visible part of American society. While the exact reason for Franco having been dropped from these campaigns is unclear at this time, the depiction of raw gay sexuality as portrayed in these films was no doubt part of the conversation. Other explicit films depicting heterosexual sex rarely if ever raise an eyebrow among the public, and neither should these.

Gay-Themed Ads Are Becoming More Mainstream

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/gay-themed-ads-mainstream-_n_2821745.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Above is an article posted by the Huffington Post regarding the new Kindle ad that features a gay couple. I've been delighted to see this Kindle commercial running fairly often. What Kindle did really well in this ad was incorporate a gay couple into a story line that didn't center around their orientation. They essentially normalized this couple and more importantly they weren't necessarily the punchline. This is the best type of integration for LGBT couples in advertisements because it doesn't play off their perceived differences as a joke. Eventually more same-sex couples will seamlessly be incorporated into advertising, and it’s novelty will wear off with every ad (which the article refers to a bit as ‘going mainstream’), but that’s simply the process of normalization which I think should be the ultimate goal.

Do Gay People Really Make Up 3.5% of the Population?

There have been many statistically significant marketing surveys over the years that generally seem to find about 5% to 7% identified as LGBT, so it is a surprise that these numbers turned out lower. However, any one survey that isn't an actual census is never enough to form a "truth" -- it takes multiple surveys using varied methodology to reach a consensus on a question.