Britvic Soft Drinks, Kludo spoof
As a play on the game known in America as Clue (or Kludo in the UK), this campaign for a juice brand explores a series of suspects in the fictional murder of British TV host Bob Holness.
In this installment, sexy woman Lucy Fox is accused by the inspector of the man's death. With a double entendre she says, "You're barking in the wrong bush, inspector. Bob was very close to Dick!"
Not so subtly named, Dick looks a bit like a '70s gay clone, wearing a burgundy scarf around his neck, a leather vest and mustache. He has a pink item of clothing hanging out of his vest pocket, which he shoves the remainder in.
In a bit of slander, the woman continues, "Dick is somewhat unstable and attacked Bobby from behind" -- another double entendre that brings a surprised look onto the inspector's face.
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When it is said that "Gay people are shown in this collection as classic gay stereotypes, including leathermen, sissies and queens, and Lipstick Lesbians," I thought that it may not be immediately be a bad thing to see a leatherman, sissy or queen represent the gay community. After all, letting "we're just like you heteros" gays represent the entire LGBT community is just as non-inclusive of the entire community, but fine by me if it portrays us well. I have no doubt that the creators of this site agree, and are more focused on the portrayal of the gay person, whatever their mannerisms or preference.
Sissies, queens and leathermen are diverse and critical elements of our community. When you say, "While some in the gay community now accept these depictions as 'diversity' and 'reality' -- others remain sensitive to them and do not. These ads do not meet Commercial Closet's Best Practices," it strikes me as very non-inclusive to a very large segment of our community.
This ad is bad because it accuses a gay man of being a murderer just because he may have had a sexual affair with the wife's husband, along with the detective's seemingly negative raising of the eyebrow. The ad aside, I think a more broader debate should be directed at classification descriptions.