Unilever, Rudi
A young man speaks with someone new on the phone and is thrilled that he has landed a hot date for breakfast.
He hops out of bed and hurriedly gets dressed, dancing with happiness. He grabs the one thing in his refrigerator -- a Lätta margarine -- and arrives at a large building with numerous apartments. He is too impatient to find the name (or forgot it!), so he pushes all the bells and the door is opened by an automatic door-opener.
He enters the building, and runs up the stairs, looking for an open door. He accidentally finds a feminine man, half dressed with jewelry and long hair, who smiles invitingly at the visitor. At first the man is confused -- but then the woman he was meeting appears at a door on the other side of the corridor and she smiles at his mistake, then so does he.
The feminine man, of course, is left behind. While the implication of his interested look at the guest is that he is gay, there is no negative reaction by others. The ad could have been just as effective, however, if the gay man was not made to be stereotyped.
Unilever was approached for a gay press story about its advertising (a German marketing column called Rosa Brille) but reportedly said it did not want to be featured, as its ad was just a “gimmick” and doing so would otherwise “set the wrong tone.”
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