It hasn’t been that long since we posted an MTV-Canada anti-pot smoking advertisement which depicted brothers kissing after smoking up, but another Canadian commercial is stirring up some more gay controversy. Fido, a subsidiary of Rogers Wireless, released a series of ads this year that star people and their similar looking dogs. This recent ad, featuring a wiener dog and his owner has a gay twist. The announcer reads “Life changes. With Fido, change your monthly package without charge whenever you want”. During this, the owner is seen first kissing a blond girl, the scene then morphs to show him with another girl and a baby. This then changes to the owner romantically hugging another man on a couch. The only constant is the wiener dog by his side.

This has rubbed a number of people the wrong way. It’s often risky for a large company to include gay content in their mainstream advertisements as there straights and gay folks who might take offense. IMHO, I think the ad isn't offensive by any means and just depicts a young man coming to terms with his sexuality as often happens. Some have said that the ad tries to say that sexual orientation is a choice since he switches so quickly. I think for that argument to be taken seriously, we have to forget the fact that the commercial is fifteen seconds long.

We've tried to contact the advertising firm behind the campaign and hope to hear back from them soon in regards to how this commercial came to be. I’m also interested in what our AfterElton readers have to say about it!

I live in San Francisco. I've also lived in Europe and seen full frontal nudity on television, as well as some very brilliant European television commercials. It cannot be said I've led a sheltered life.

And yet I've never seen anything like this extremely gay ad for Radio Donna in Belgium, no I never have. It's a musical number about a guy coming out to his parents. It has backup dancers. I had a strong desire to cover my eyes while watching it, and yet I couldn't look away. I was consumed with the desire to understand what it could possibly be promoting, but I'm not entirely sure why it would make me want to listen to this radio station.

I tried to research it on Google and by plaintively asking friends in Europe what exactly "Radio Donna" is. I'm a little bit scared of any phenomenon that doesn't so much as have its own Wikipedia entry. A friend emailed me back that it has something to do with the Eurovision song contest, which didn't really make me feel all that much better because I tend to think of that as being the scariest musical thing on earth. Although I did find you a nice picture of Sarbel, Greece's Ricky Martin and its 2007 Eurovision contestant, because they told me when they asked me to blog here I had to use lots of pictures of pretty boys on my posts.

Thanks to the UK's Pinknews for bringing this to our attention. Cable tv stations in New York and Los Angeles will shortly be running the first television commercial ever for a gay sex lubricant. Call me a prude, but I sorta wish they wouldn't. Not that I have anything against personal lubricant advertising, but this particular commercial is so unoriginal, unfunny and crudely suggestive that I think it reinforces some of the worst gay male stereotypes out there.

The ad is a take-off of the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" commercials of the 1990's. Only this time the product is Boy Butter and the slogan is "I Can't Believe It's Not Boy Butter."

You never see the actors, just their hands and a closeup of the product which is displayed on a kitchen counter along with some citrus fruits.

Given that the packaging is designed to look like a tub of margarine, I really don't think that anyone should be leaving this product out on their kitchen counters. But really, that's just the start of this commercial's transgressions. The thing ends with a voice-over announcer saying "Try squeezing a little Boy Butter into your tight agenda today!"

Okay, eww. Come on guys, if you're going to produce the first televsion commercial ever for a gay personal lubricant you sort of have an obligation to do something tasteful -- or at least legitimately amusing. This one isn't.

Think I'm being too hard on this thing? Check out the 30 second spot below, and let me know what you think.

Check out the ad for Madonna's new clothing line for Britain's HM department stores. She plays a sort of dominatrix -- something she's done before to good effect (circa "Erotica".) Its a really playful, sexy commercial -- although for the life of me I don't know what it says about the actual clothes she's selling. Oh who cares -- anything to see our Madge slapping people and brandishing a riding crop.