Olivia, Ship

Two model-like women cavort on a cruise ship, living the high life. One splashes the other as she tans by the pool, then later gives her a rose. They relax in beach chairs and join each other for a private meal at the back of the ship, served by a waiter. The end shot explains that Olivia provides "Vacations for women."

The ad is about what you'd expect from any cruise line, except Olivia caters to lesbians. Olivia had never advertised on TV before, then decided to seize the opportunity of the coming-out episode of ABC's "Ellen." It was an expensive proposition for the company. Olivia tried to make a network buy for the program but was snubbed by ABC, which said it felt such subject matter was "best dealt with in programming."

It was the second ad ABC declined to carry (see Human Rights Campaign, "Shoes") for the episode but this time there was no formal policy in place to explain its decision. The network simply had too much to deal with, controversy-wise, with the program alone.

Olivia founder Judy Dlugacz said, "ABC basically said that 'lesbian lifestyles belong in programming, not advertising.' We were the only ones who wanted to do an ad on that show – everyone else was actually trying to pull their ads – but because we were a lesbian company, they didn’t want to air us ... on a show that is featuring a lesbian coming out of the closet. We went ahead and made it anyway because we thought we could run it on the local affiliates."

Olivia was forced to purchase local stations, going into five cities: New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and--of all places-- Winston-Salem, N.C. All cities saw the edited version, which removed shots of hand-holding and cuddling between the women. Still, the show got its highest ratings ever (36.2 million viewers nationally).

"Boston didn’t run it because it was 'bordering on exploitation of women' because women were pictured in bathing suits on a cruise ship," said Dlugacz. "It was bizarre. You could see how the straight world views this kind of thing. I mean this was the most sanitized and beautifully done commercial that you’ll ever see! We haven’t run the ad anywhere else because that was kind of a blow and we would have to renegotiate, which we will do, eventually."

Olivia announced a sponsorship with LPGA Tour pro golfer Rosie Jones, a 13-time winner who publicly came out as a lesbian in the The New York Times in March 2004. It is the first sponsorship of a professional gay athlete by a lesbian and gay company.