Monster.ca, Neighbours/Orientation

In a series that has one-half of couples looking elsewhere for romantic fulfillment, one has a man carrying his cherished items (golf clubs, tennis racquet, a lamp, etc.) as he moves out of the house and leaves his wife -- for the house next door and a man.

He walks away with a morose look on his face and the wife, in her pajamas, looks an unhappy mess.

He walks up to the porch of the home next door and is met by his new partner, a masculine, goateed man, and they warmly touch foreheads.

The narrator then announces, "If you want to change your orientation, that's cool with us. Especially when it comes to your career."

As the younger, Canadian sister of job web site Monster.com, the three-year-old company chose the high-profile Olympics to air its campaign about the parallels between personal relationships and employers.

Other ads in the group include a woman who turns to the pizza delivery boy for romance and a man whose girlfriend is too busy on her cell phone to notice two other women flirting with her man. The entire campaign is viewable at http://content.monster.ca/movies/ and was created by Publicite Martin, Montreal. The company even invites voting on the commercials at the site.

"One of Monster.ca's objectives is to differentiate ourselves from other job sites in Canada and from Monster.com as well," says Jennifer-Lee Thomas, director of marketing communications. "Monster is perceived as a bit edgy, innovative and more out there. We wanted an ad that no other career Web site could slap their name onto."

The ad tested "very well" in focus groups, she says, although "one or two people didn't like it because they couldn't relate." Monster.ca decided the subject was a heated one and scheduled the gay ad to only appear after 9 p.m. on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. "We knew it could be a touchy subject," says Thomas.

Unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Swedish furniture retailer IKEA also aired its groundbreaking commercial featuring a male couple who shops for a dining room table after 9 p.m. – back in 1994.