Ad fab.

A slew of new commercials takes direct--and sometimes indirect--aire at gay and lesbian consumers

This spring Miller Brewing Co. premiered a TV ad called "Switcheroo" during NBC's top-rated drama, ER.

The commercial depicts two attractive women cruising a bar for men. They settle on a favorite, send him a beer, and then exchange smiles on discovering that the man has an equally handsome friend. But the women's plan for a "double your fun" pickup is thwarted when the men take each other's hand before thanking the women for the beer. "Well," one of the women sighs, "at least he's not married."

The masterfully nonchalant ad not only plays to the clich, that all beautiful men are either married or gay, it also brings home a far more subtle point. After years of fumbles and false starts, it seems that some companies are finally ready to embrace overtly gay TV ads during prime time, just as other companies are keeping their ambiguously gay ads closeted.

As the overtly gay-themed Miller spot was rotating through ER, Will & Grace, the NBA play-offs, and ESPN programming, Minute Maid. Co. and White Rock Distilleries quietly released similar advertisements. Their ads have an equally strong gay appeal, but officials at those companies say they didn't intend to target gay consumers. Nevertheless, they are delighted by the attention--as well as the additional business--they have attracted from gays and lesbians. "There seems to be an interesting change in attitude," says Cathy Renna, news media director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "Not that many years ago companies would run away from any insinuation that they were marketing a product that would appeal to the gay or lesbian community."

Yet some companies seem to still be toeing the line. The Minute Maid commercial depicts Popeye and Bluto, those warring alpha males of the cartoon world, playing on a seesaw together, burying each other in sand at the beach, and then riding away on a bicycle built for two--leaving longtime love interest Olive Oyl in the lurch. However, appearances can be deceiving, according to Dan Schafer, a spokesman for the Houston-based company. "The ad does not suggest any relationship other than that [Popeye and Bluto] are friends," he says.

That may be the case, but the commercial caused a small media storm when USA Today picked up on it, reporting that Christian conservative groups were angered by the ad's gay implications.

Schafer says the commercial is part of a larger campaign that depicts people acting in unexpected ways as a result of drinking Minute Maid orange juice. In another ad the normally bellicose basketball coach Bobby Knight is shown being friendly and caring toward his players. (Minute Maid also airs a commercial in Europe that shows a military man saying goodbye to his wife and child before jumping into a convertible with the Village People. But Schafer would not comment on that ad other than to say Minute Maid's European ads are controlled by another division.) "If a consumer group connects with one of our ads, then that is fine; we target our ads very broadly," he says. "These ads are targeted to orange juice lovers."

That's an attitude that won't wash with gay consumers in the long run, says Howard Buford, president and founder of Prime Access Inc., a New York City-based advertising company that focuses on the gay market. Buford, a pioneer in persuading Fortune 500 companies such as AT&T and American Express to advertise to gay consumers, says gay people want to be addressed directly, and they will likely reward companies that do so. "[Lesbian and gay consumers] really want to be acknowledged openly for who they are," he says. "It is not enough just to hint at it. At this point, there is a need to go beyond rainbow flags and colors."

These are points that Miller Brewing Co. seems to recognize. Scott Bussen, a spokesman for the Milwaukee-based company, says "Switcheroo" was meant to be both realistic and humorous. "Most of our consumers appreciate the humor and foundation behind [the ad]; they identify with it and recognize it's not based on a fantasy," he says. "They look at it and say, `Yeah, I can see that happening.'"

So does Miller worry about how straight men will react to the ad? "Our research shows that our consumers are more open, more interested, and more inclusive," Bussen says. As for gay and lesbian consumers, he says, "Clearly that's an important market," adding, "Gay and lesbian beer drinkers will be very loyal to companies that they believe deserve that loyalty."

In contrast to Minute Maid, White Rock Distilleries, based in Lewiston, Maine, has a slightly more direct approach. Company officials say they happened upon the gay market entirely by accident when first marketing Cabana Boy Rum this spring. But they acknowledge that they're now embracing the market wholeheartedly.

Cabana Boy bottles sport beefy 20-something men in shorts who cast sultry come-hither glances. (The 22-year-old boyfriend of the chief executive officer's daughter is one of the models.) CEO Paul Coulombe says his company originally intended to market the rum to young women and hired an all-female advertising company to come up with a campaign to do so. However, when distributors saw the bottles, they thought the target audience was gay men. So they pitched the product to gay bars in Florida, where it has been a hit, Coulombe says. "Obviously gay men are interested in good-looking guys [too]," he says.

Now Coulombe's company has jumped into the gay market with both feet. He says he's so delighted to have the new marketing niche that he's hired a gay advertising company in Miami to focus on it specifically. "We want as many consumers as we possibly can [get], whether homosexual or heterosexual," Coulombe says. "The gay community has always been the forerunner with a lot of brands, whether liquor or anything else. And when they have endorsed brands, it has made them very popular with the rest of the marketplace." In the meantime, he says, his daughter probably will be keeping a close watch on her boyfriend.

Quittner bas also contributed to Business Week.