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The earliest archived ads suggesting homosexuality appeared in 1917. One Ivory soap ad depicts a male locker-room shower scene, with nudity and wayward glances. Another features a “traveling” man and a “youth” in conversation about the wonders of Ivory soap, heavy on gay innuendo. The older man remarks how a surprising number of “traveling men” carry Ivory soap. The possibility that the soap is a euphemism for gay sex is bolstered by the young man's reply: “I learned to appreciate it in the army. There is no other soap that satisfies me now.”

Manufacturers of so-called “sin products,” such as alcohol and tobacco, were early arrivals on the gay advertisement scene, according to Wilke. They have been much less concerned about religious conservative boycotts than other marketers.

But gay-themed beer and liquor ads generally appear in gay rather than mainstream publications. And alcoholic beverage producers are responsible for some of the most homophobic commercials and print ads. Bud Light has run several ads using transgendered characters to create laughs at the expense of the transgendered.

Of course, LGBT organizations generally produce advertisements that exhibit awareness and sensitivity about the community. But in recent years other entities have made headway. Ikea has an uneven track record, but brought the first commercial prominently featuring a gay couple to the U.S. in 1994. In it, two men finish each other's sentences as they talk about purchasing a dining room table, commenting that “a leaf means commitment.”

The ad only aired after 9:30 PM , so as not to corrupt impressionable young viewers. It is included in Commercial Closet's “late night shame” category. It was pulled after one of Ikea's stores received a bomb threat.

According to Stephanie Blackwood, co-founder of the gay and lesbian-focused marketing firm Double Platinum, until recently “Gay and lesbian representations--mostly gay and mostly white, male--often verged on the stereotypical, and the gay lifestyle was presented as men who always looked like they wanted to have sex with each other.” She adds, “Now we have a degree of sophistication to portray gay men and lesbians accurately, to show that we live fully and richly, go to work, and have families. Ads don't always have to show us as two people touching. Our lives can be portrayed without always focusing on sex.”

Peddling politics more so than products, MTV is responsible for some of the most overtly queer-positive ads in recent years. “MTV has set the gold standard among all advertisers for the most ads that refer to the community,” according to the Commercial Closet website, producing more than 30 since 1996. The site points out that the network also carries many gay-themed ads from other companies in addition to running its own gay-inclusive programming.

In one ad from MTV's 2004 “Choose or Lose” campaign, a young man on a doorstep asks for “Megan's hand in marriage.” After receiving permission, he then goes from door to door repeating his question. Eventually "How would you feel if you had to ask 260 million people for the right to marry?" appears on screen.

Overall, gay-themed ads tend to feature metropolitan, white, healthy, men--because that's who has the most disposable income. That demographic also comprises the largest readership of gay publications. According to the Gay Press Report, gay and lesbian publications had $212 million in ad spending in 2005, and more than half of those ads contained gay-specific content.

“Marketing is based on research, which is done by the media and is extremely expensive,” Blackwood says. “The media that can afford the research is mostly consumed by gay white males. Companies only want to market to consumers who will buy their products. If no media are serving a particular market, there's no way to reach those consumers and no way to market to them, so why create ads for them? The point is to reach consumers with messaging that speaks to them.” It's a self-perpetuating cycle.

Of course, the larger a market, the more marketing to it makes sense. According to PR/marketing firm Witeck-Combs Communications, the gay and lesbian consumer market hit $610 billion in 2005.

Greater visibility doesn't automatically indicate greater equality, greater acceptance, or less homophobia. But even if the trend toward more positive representations arises from understandable concerns about the bottom line, it can still lead to less ignorance, more acceptance and greater equality. Ads shape society as well as reflect it.

As the Commercial Closet reminds us, “Advertising has the power to change much more than just buying habits—it can also change how we think about each other.”

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