WHERE SUCCESSFUL ADVERTISING MEETS LGBT EQUALITY

Eastman Kodak Co., Donation

Members:

Basketball bad boy Dennis Rodman -- known for his outrageous behavior, including kicking a sports photographer, frequently changing hair color and wearing wedding dresses for publicity -- walks into the Helping Hands Thrift Store.

The older woman behind the desk watches with pleasure as the big box is carried in.

"Hello, I'd like to make a donation," says Rodman, sporting blond hair in the commercial. The contents of the box are dumped onto the counter, including a spiked dog collar, leather whip, feather boa, and other items. Her eyebrows raise in surprise at the assorted items. With a big, cheesy smile, he announces, "I'm a changed man."

Examining the dog collar, she says, "I see."

The announcer then says, "Hoping to get an Advantix camera this Christmas? Better be on your best behavior."

The implication is that wearing dog collars, feather boas and other accessories is "bad."

User Comments
Aram Vartian
Okay, you say "The implication is that wearing dog collars, feather boas and other accessories is 'bad.'" So here is my question: when was all of that considered always gay? See, if you assume that Rodman's rejection of these "fetish" objects is anti-gay, then you have to assume that fetishism is exclusively gay, which in itself is a stereotype. Seems like you are inflicting the damage here, not reporting on it.

Becca
Being a lover of fetish, as well as bisexual, I am quite depressed at the reactions of people to this ad. It seems that some gay people feel a need to push away those of us who don't seem crystal clean, so as to improve their own image. If you've ever been to a goth club, you've noticed that 90% of the people there are gay or bisexual, and many are transgender. If goth as a subculture welcomes different sexualities, how come different sexualities are so opposed to goth as a subculture?

Lori Buckwalter
This ad is trans-themed only in the most indirect way. I can understand that Rodman's 'reform' is not a positive statement about flamboyance and fetish per se, but since the focal object of the donations is a spiked collar, the hook isn't really about gender variance.

Richard Hart
I find nothing that induces anti-gay thinking in this spot. We need to be vigilant, but taking a shotgun approach to anything that utilizes humor to play against someone's stereotyped persona, makes us look overly PC and dimishes our ability to raise righteous challenges when anti-gay content appears.

Andrea James
Cheesy, but then so is the celebrity depicted.