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News & ArtsFriday, November 25, 2011
LGBTQITSLFA Required Viewing: Australian Marriage Equality Ad
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 10:03 AM
This ad is beautiful—really touching. It'll crank up the only-gay-white-men-care-about-marriage shriekingfucksticks, without a doubt, but people who actually have hearts will be able to appreciate it.
1
Nothing to transcribe here. Even though they talk to camera, you can't make out what they're saying - there's music almost all the way through.
3
It's all fun and cool and all that! But what do you do if you don't look like a Calvin Klein underwear model?
9
@3
Don't get married. Only hot gays are allowed to marry, didn't you know that?
You're not going to change any minds if this were an ad about two gynormous, fugly lesbians or something. Let's be real here.
Don't get married. Only hot gays are allowed to marry, didn't you know that?
You're not going to change any minds if this were an ad about two gynormous, fugly lesbians or something. Let's be real here.
11
It shouldn't be; it's a sales pitch. (Even if it's only an Internet video.) They sell Pepsi with attractive models. Why not pitch equality the same way?
And yeah, it's a three hanky, even if you can see where it's going from the start.
And yeah, it's a three hanky, even if you can see where it's going from the start.
12
#4: it's not a TV ad, it's made by an action group called GetUp! Australia, and it's meant to be shared online.
It's also brilliantly effective, beautiful to look at, and even when you know exactly what's going to happen at the end, emotionally compelling. I think it's fantastic.
It's also brilliantly effective, beautiful to look at, and even when you know exactly what's going to happen at the end, emotionally compelling. I think it's fantastic.
13
Sweet-natured and charming. And about one specific couple, so expecting a dozen diversity boxes to be checked would be tiresome and unrealistic.
And yes, they're attractive, but, as others have observed, everything is sold with pretty people, so singling out this particular ad for that 'sin' would also be tiresome.
Go make your own PSA if you want to show a dozen couples, or a couple that is less pretty, or a couple that is less white, or whatever...
And yes, they're attractive, but, as others have observed, everything is sold with pretty people, so singling out this particular ad for that 'sin' would also be tiresome.
Go make your own PSA if you want to show a dozen couples, or a couple that is less pretty, or a couple that is less white, or whatever...
14
Holy crumbs but that was some awesome acting. The fact that the actors are all smoking hot didn't hurt. Like it or not, people are prejudiced in favor of beauty and always have been. We might as well use that power for good.
15
@9
I am real. And honestly all the gay content that's out there creates this model or perception, that gay somehow equals major hottness, when in REALity it is oftentimes not the case. I consider myself mildly attractive, there are men who find me good-looking, but it's never the men I'm interested in. It's discouraging and depressing.
I'm seriously starting to build up some sort of resentment toward all that just because I don't belong to the CK club.
For example, as this ad was playing I couldn't help thinking to myself: "Oh look, a guy-I'll-never-have-slash-never-will-look-as-hot-as-he-does just wrote his phone number right on a page of that book, how cool! Or oh look, the GINHSNWLAHAHD is sad now, oh no. But wait a minute, I think the GINHSNWLAHAHD is happy again, oh he sure is beautiful"
And you know, beautiful people deserve to be happy...
I am real. And honestly all the gay content that's out there creates this model or perception, that gay somehow equals major hottness, when in REALity it is oftentimes not the case. I consider myself mildly attractive, there are men who find me good-looking, but it's never the men I'm interested in. It's discouraging and depressing.
I'm seriously starting to build up some sort of resentment toward all that just because I don't belong to the CK club.
For example, as this ad was playing I couldn't help thinking to myself: "Oh look, a guy-I'll-never-have-slash-never-will-look-as-hot-as-he-does just wrote his phone number right on a page of that book, how cool! Or oh look, the GINHSNWLAHAHD is sad now, oh no. But wait a minute, I think the GINHSNWLAHAHD is happy again, oh he sure is beautiful"
And you know, beautiful people deserve to be happy...
16
I saw this over at the Daily Beast, and didn't know what it was about prior to watching it. Made my heart weep. It's time, indeed.
17
@15, problem is, most of us are biased toward believing good-looking people are good people. It's called the halo effect. And you can't really blame ad agencies for taking advantage of it, since it clearly works. Although in this case I thought the guy was a little too pretty, so I felt a bit manipulated, but whatever.
Take comfort in the fact that sexy, intelligent, thoughtful, and deeply attractive *does not always equal* pretty. Stay confident, fit, and involved with the world -- and don't obsess about your looks -- and that man you're looking for will come along. :)
Take comfort in the fact that sexy, intelligent, thoughtful, and deeply attractive *does not always equal* pretty. Stay confident, fit, and involved with the world -- and don't obsess about your looks -- and that man you're looking for will come along. :)
18
So sweet. Very sharp use of the very latest editing, lighting and scoring ad techniques, put to a good cause. I feel sad to read some people are too alienated by the models' youth and attractiveness to accept them as emotional avatars, but since most people identify themselves more closely with generic types like that, it serves the cause better that way.
20
This is not a commercial. It's produced by http://www.getup.org.au/ who are a non-aligned political group fighting for social justice and environmental issues.
I agree about the actors not representing reality, but it's no different from skinny models playing brides in meringues flogging hetero goods.
I agree about the actors not representing reality, but it's no different from skinny models playing brides in meringues flogging hetero goods.
26
Honestly, Laertes... you watch this ad and your first reaction is some whine about them being 'too beautiful'?
Screw you and your own body image issues. This is a beautiful ad.
Screw you and your own body image issues. This is a beautiful ad.
28
#15,
It sounds like you are whining because other gay men are as shallow as you. You say that the men that find you attractive are not the ones that "you find attractive." Perhaps it's time that you lowered your own standards. A less shallow gay culture starts with each of us.
Whether men find you attractive or not has little to do how advertisers and the media depict gay men. Sex sells to gay men just as it does to straight men. Whether it's beer or vodka or t-shirts, ads targeted for men will always feature impossibly hot people, hot women for the straight men and hot men for the gay men. But this paradigm is not responsible for you being alone.
My partner has a friend from West Virginia who shared some of his grandmother's wisdom with us: "There ain't a pot so crooked that there ain't a lid to fit it."
It sounds like you are whining because other gay men are as shallow as you. You say that the men that find you attractive are not the ones that "you find attractive." Perhaps it's time that you lowered your own standards. A less shallow gay culture starts with each of us.
Whether men find you attractive or not has little to do how advertisers and the media depict gay men. Sex sells to gay men just as it does to straight men. Whether it's beer or vodka or t-shirts, ads targeted for men will always feature impossibly hot people, hot women for the straight men and hot men for the gay men. But this paradigm is not responsible for you being alone.
My partner has a friend from West Virginia who shared some of his grandmother's wisdom with us: "There ain't a pot so crooked that there ain't a lid to fit it."
29
Lovely. Hopefully it will melt the metal heart of Oz's own Iron Lady, Julia Gillard.
And I filled in my own Aussie dialogue, like "let's go rassle some crocs," and "krikey, somebody let out the hoozeewozle," plus of course "yah kahl that a rang? This is ah rang!"
And I filled in my own Aussie dialogue, like "let's go rassle some crocs," and "krikey, somebody let out the hoozeewozle," plus of course "yah kahl that a rang? This is ah rang!"
30
um, this isn't about "only gay white men care about marriage", it's that there are a shit-ton other issues affecting the gltbqi community that gay white men are oftentimes oblivious to because, well, they're white men. It would be great if marriage equality was the only justice issue we all had to worry about, but sadly there are those of us who also have to deal with things like sexism (yes, even within the queer community), economic inequality and racism, and when gay white guys go on and on and on about marriage equality TO THE EXCLUSION OF other justice issues that matter to the rest of us, well, you gay white guys come across like clueless, privilege-blind idiots.
31
Lovely. I must admit that I have never seen a marriage equality commercial that has not made me tear up, Australian or Oregonian, I might be too tenderhearted or I might be too frustrated by the injustice of inequality. Thank you for sharing.
33
@3. Maybe you ought to read "The Celluloid Closet" and see how gay people were depicted for nearly a century on television and film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cellulo…
Check out Boys In The Band to see how bitchy and faggy we were. Even in children's films like "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T" starring the fairy of all fairys, Hans Conried. Sing along with his "Dress Me" song.
"I want my organdy snood and In addition to that,
I want my chiffon mother hubbard lined in Hudson Bay rat."
We were either flaming fags or homicidal maniacs.
So please deal with your image issues elsewhere. We've been made to feel sick with ourselves long enough without your whining.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cellulo…
Check out Boys In The Band to see how bitchy and faggy we were. Even in children's films like "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T" starring the fairy of all fairys, Hans Conried. Sing along with his "Dress Me" song.
"I want my organdy snood and In addition to that,
I want my chiffon mother hubbard lined in Hudson Bay rat."
We were either flaming fags or homicidal maniacs.
So please deal with your image issues elsewhere. We've been made to feel sick with ourselves long enough without your whining.
34
@3. Oh! And I completely forgot the history of gays in literature. Did you ever wonder why "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" was written without ***ever*** mentioning that at least THREE of it's principle characters were gay?
Where's why. NOBODY WOULD HAVE PUBLISHED THE FUCKING BOOK! That's why Carson McCullers got high critical praise. She wrote a book about gay people that was under the radar of the typical homophobe. I took a course in gay and lesbian literature and what you typically find in stories was that One of Two things (or both) had to happen to the gay character in order for it to be published.
1. The gay character had to die.
2. The gay character had to be a criminal, lunatic or psychopath.
Thats' exactly what DID happen in "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter". The main character commits suicide right after his near moron of a companion dies. Perfect ending, in other words, for a society that directly associated homosexuality with communism (there were communists in the book, too, but they weren't the gay characters).
It's about fucking time we had some beauty associated with us.
Where's why. NOBODY WOULD HAVE PUBLISHED THE FUCKING BOOK! That's why Carson McCullers got high critical praise. She wrote a book about gay people that was under the radar of the typical homophobe. I took a course in gay and lesbian literature and what you typically find in stories was that One of Two things (or both) had to happen to the gay character in order for it to be published.
1. The gay character had to die.
2. The gay character had to be a criminal, lunatic or psychopath.
Thats' exactly what DID happen in "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter". The main character commits suicide right after his near moron of a companion dies. Perfect ending, in other words, for a society that directly associated homosexuality with communism (there were communists in the book, too, but they weren't the gay characters).
It's about fucking time we had some beauty associated with us.
35
Beautiful. Sadly, they're shown driving on the left and playing cricket, so it'll never catch on in this country.
37
@3 I had to view it again after reading your comment because I didn't remember the actors being wildly attractive or anything. They looked kind of average too me -- not distractingly gorgeous OR plain. Does Calvin Klein use different models depending on the country?
40
I thought the guy who was the main focus was cute, but more like ordinary boy next door cute, not A&F model cute.
Also, bear in mind that Australia is significantly whiter than the U.S. Of the roughly 22.8 million people in Australia, 90% are of European descent, while about 8% are of Asian descent and barely one half of one percent are Australian Aboriginals. So the actors in the ad are pretty representative.
Also, bear in mind that Australia is significantly whiter than the U.S. Of the roughly 22.8 million people in Australia, 90% are of European descent, while about 8% are of Asian descent and barely one half of one percent are Australian Aboriginals. So the actors in the ad are pretty representative.
42
@33 - Thanks for mentioning that movie - I've just spent the last couple hours watching it on Youtube.
45
For non-Australians, 'It's Time' was the slogan used in 1975 by the Whitlam government. It's probably being used here because the Whitlam government is remembered as being reformist and 'liberal' (in the international sense - the Liberal Party is actually Australia's main conservative party).
47
For an earlier, more 'diverse' ad from the same group, see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=LREp…
Less attractive, real people! Hott ginge on brown action!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=LREp…
Less attractive, real people! Hott ginge on brown action!
50
They've had such a positive response they're going to try to get this ad on TV before the upcoming parliamentary vote next weekend. Check out the website to make a donation. https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/marri…
51
LOL, what a stupid ad.
I'm not so attractive gay so I've been celibate for almost 10 years.
These kind of ads really piss me off.
I'm not so attractive gay so I've been celibate for almost 10 years.
These kind of ads really piss me off.
53
@51 and 52: Pretty is as pretty does, dear. We're most of us not commercially attractive, but it doesn't stop the world from hooking up, falling in love, etc. Ads like this are not what is standing in the way of your happiness.
And you are not garbage.
And you are not garbage.
54
I didn't even notice whether anybody was textbook pretty (nope, especially because an open mouth with popcorn is ... yuck), but what I did feel was the fierce intensity of their hug at the end. And that's what's important!
55
Here's a question I'm trying to figure out, what legal rights are gay people lacking in Australia? I'm trying to look it up, but I can't find anything.
56
i saw this on multiple blogs, sites etc... i could not help my eyes getting watery each time.....
57
So any time any of the critics in the previous posts go to the movies, watch television, or read a magazine you can't possibly enjoy or identify with the people represented because it depicts only stereotypically attractive people? Pick your battles folks--the political message of marriage equality, if attained, applies to everyone (and that means everyone of all beauty types). Obviously this was a strategic choice. If fighting normative standars of beauty is a fight you want to engage, there are larger, better targets (e.g., any Hollywood film?) that are not using this visual rhetoric as a means to what is a worthy end, but simply for making money.
58
@51/51. So you're an attention whore and this ad gave you a chance to get attention, even if it's negative attention. That'll keep you celibate for another 20-30 years. If that's how you see the world, it you look at the container instead of the contents, you're pretty much setting yourself up for failure for the rest of your life. You should get a shrink; maybe a dog, so you'll be sure to have at least *one* devoted friend.
59
@55: No legal marriage or civil unions. But de facto hetero and same-sex couples are treated pretty much the same as married couples for most purposes -- tax, immigration, welfare etc. I even get my prescriptions at the seniors rate, because my partner is pension age!
61
@40 "Also, bear in mind that Australia is significantly whiter than the U.S. Of the roughly 22.8 million people in Australia, 90% are of European descent, while about 8% are of Asian descent and barely one half of one percent are Australian Aboriginals. So the actors in the ad are pretty representative." Thanks for that. In addition, xenophobia is prevalent in many parts of Australia and, like it or not, a video featuring two white typically Aussie-looking blokes is likely to have the greatest affect.
@55 Marriage. This video has been created in anticipation of the Labor Party's national conference that's being held this weekend. From the video's creator (www.getup.org.au): "Let's keep marriage equality front and centre, in the limelight, so that Conference delegates know next Saturday, when they discuss amendments the party's platform, anything but a positive change that calls for marriage equality is unacceptable."
- A Canadian living in Australia
@55 Marriage. This video has been created in anticipation of the Labor Party's national conference that's being held this weekend. From the video's creator (www.getup.org.au): "Let's keep marriage equality front and centre, in the limelight, so that Conference delegates know next Saturday, when they discuss amendments the party's platform, anything but a positive change that calls for marriage equality is unacceptable."
- A Canadian living in Australia
62
As a gay, previous model for Gucci, I find it interesting how much hate I receive in general from people(straight or gay) I had as much say as you did in what I looked like. So why should I be hated on for something totally out of my control? Some people just get luckier, its a fact of life, you can't change it. So just be happy with what you have and think to yourself, it could be worst.
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