If you're like me and speed through commercials thanks to DVR to get to the next funny line in Glee or amazing performance on So You Think You Can Dance, you may be missing some important progress made in the positive inclusion and portrayal of LGBT individuals in mainstream advertising. Luckily, our friends at GLAADkeep a close eye on advertisers and companies, and are preparing to recognize the best of the best in the last 12 months in the first-ever GLAAD Media Awards in Advertising.
Presented by Southwest and hosted by Broadway actor Alan Cumming, the event will honor a number of major brand-name companies, including Progressive Insurance, Cadillac, Rogaine, Wells Fargo, Allstate and Bertolli. You can check out all of the nominees and their ads here. Special awards will also be presented to Subaru for their long-standing, public commitment to LGBT community, as well as Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams for including LGBT stories in their advertising for Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams.
"As with other forms of media, advertising has the power to change hears and minds," said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios in a press release. "Companies that promote fair, accurate and inclusive images of the LGBT community in advertising send an important to their customers, to corporations and to any consumer who sees their ads. We will be recognizing those companies that do just that, and in so doing, set a standard to which other companies may aspire."
I couldn't agree more. The LGBT community is diverse and teaming with great stories and individuals who should be portrayed in corporate advertising. We're all not Jack McFarlands. We need the Jacks and Wills and all other people of our community to be included in advertising for their life, their story, their contributions. Several of the nominees this year do a good job of showing LGBT individuals exactly as they are — your neighbor or colleague who works, lives and shares in community similar to the ways of his straight counterpart.
If you're in or going to be in New York on October 27, definitely consider attending this event at the New World Stages. For more information, check out GLAAD's site here. And keep letting us know here on the Out Front Blog when you see advertisers who are getting things right…and wrong.
SUBSCRIBE