20/20 Optical Store, 20/20 Kiss

The tagline on the shoulder "short-sighted passion" seems to imply "short-sightedness" as equivalent to bad decision making, i.e. the passionate interlude will have regret attached. Looks to me (with my 20-20 vision) like the fellow at the bottom of the frame, with his slightly softer, finer features & rather long eyelashes is meant to appear gender-ambiguous, so yes - the message is that with correct vision the fellow on top (in a protagonist stance) would have taken home a woman. Subtle yet unmistakable, and definitely passing derogatory comment on homosexuality. Funny thing is the ad would likely go over the head of its intended hetero audience, and / or alienate homophobic straight fellows, and seems unlikely to win the buying preferences of gays. So while it might have given some creatives a warm feeling of self-satisfied cleverness, I doubt it was a wise advertising spend in terms of actually selling any eyewear.

I actually thought the person lying on their back was a girl. My immediate reaction seeing a masculine body draped over another was that they were a straight couple in bed together. The ad worked but I need an eye test!

I believe that the connection between the male-male kiss and the need of a pair of eye glasses is written on his shoulder: That because he's near-sighted the only way he can appreciate his friend/boyfriend/lover/whatever is by being "close and personal" until he gets some glasses.

Goes to show how much more accepting Europeans are. Too bad the whole world can't be like this.

Maybe the point is that one of them isn't gay, and because he can't see properly, he doesn't know that he is even kissing another man! He would definitely need to buy some glasses then, don't you think?

It's a very nice ad, but I fail to see how a passionate kiss ties in with needing glasses.

The kiss appears to be consensual, relational and gratifying; a romantic ideal. I admit the tie-in to eyeglasses is ambiguous at best, but that's advertising for you! Using a positive portrayal of male-to-male intimacy to catch readers' attention is OK with me.

I find this ad quite offensive. Is it supposed to mean that a man can't possibly want to kiss another man unless he is short sighted and has 'mistaken' him for a woman?

The men could make love at a greater distance if they had contacts!

The sex of one of the partners is really ambiguous. Couldn't this ad just be suggesting that without your glasses, who knows what you're really seeing?

I didn't know glasses could be an aphrodisiac!

The ad uses sex to grab the potential customer's interest, then sells the product, just like for straight people. It doesn't have to make sense when it is male/female that they're trying to sell glasses, but my interest was heightened more than if I had to look at yet another (probably gay) man with a woman.