Chemistry.com Continues Its Gay-Inclusive Marketing Strategy in a New Campaign

For a company to go directly after its biggest competitor in advertising is nothing new in a media landscape scarred by cola wars and fast-food takedowns. But for a company to use another company’s intolerance of same-sex relationships as a key talking point in two mainstream campaigns is something new and very bold. While many companies still fear that showing support of gay relationships and gay consumers in their advertising might turn off mainstream audiences, Chemistry.com has chosen to make a clear statement that this kind of intolerance is not just not part of their company’s philosophy, but out of touch with contemporary America, period.

The “No Gays” ad is especially noteworthy as it pointedly reminds readers of the days of racial segregation and Jim Crow laws that prevented African-Americans from enjoying the same civil rights as whites. That Chemistry.com is willing to compare eHarmony’s ongoing exclusion of gay people to racial segregation is a daring stance for a company to take and one that marks a milestone in how gay issues are treated by corporate America. This kind of advertising goes far beyond an ad in a gay magazine showing two hot men enjoying a beer together or a cute gay couple buying furniture. Indeed, it moves into a different realm altogether.

Says Ginsberg, “After we launched our “Rejected” campaign, people thanked us. They said it was long-overdue. Based on the overwhelming response, we thought it was an important message to continue to disseminate. We believe that everyone deserves to find love – it is absurd for a company to discriminate when it comes to finding love. We believe companies should be judged by their practices, not just their products. And we believe consumers should have the right to have full visibility into company’s practices.”

The “Gay Beach” ad has been running in weeklies like the Village Voice since late December, and will appear in The Advocate and lesbian magazine Curve in the coming months, as the company has found that gays have responded to both mainstream ad placement and ads run in gay-targeted media: “We’ve found that both mainstream and niche media have been effective ways of reaching the LGBT audience, and we’ll continue to reach out to this demographic through both channels. “

And with a message as clear as Chemistry.com’s, LGBT audiences are likely to keep listening.