Love Is Beyond Gender and These Bold Ads Help Trash the Stigma

On this Valentine’s day be inspired by these bold ads and step out of the closet.

Step out of the closet on Valentine’s day. (Photo courtesy: YouTube/Myntra)

The advertising world is highly competitive today. There are a zillion brands in a single product category and they all fight for our attention. But some of them linger on in our minds. Their bold concepts break stigma and stereotypes, and what better time to address homosexuality, than around Valentine’s day.

Close Up came up with this bold concept a week before before Valentine’s day. The beauty of this one is that it doesn’t solely focus on homosexuality, but on other relationships that are stigmatised as well. The ad shows three couples, one of them is of the same sex, the other being a younger man in love with an older woman, and the third shows a heterosexual couple of different races. This actually equalises all the three challenges in a way, by putting them next to each other.

Myntra took to Facebook with an ad that shows four couples of different age groups, and at different stages of their relationships, ranging from dating to being married for many years. Of these four couples, one is a homosexual example as well. Though they didn’t intend to be preachy, they do bring out their similarities. This kind of messaging is what we need to normalise homosexuality.

This is however not the first time that a product has taken up same sex activism in India. Virgin Mobile, showed a girl telling her parents that she is not interested in men, which makes her folks freak out. So when she receives a call from her male friend, they coax her into going on a vacation with him, because they suspect that she is a homosexual. Many saw this ad film as a pretention of homosexuality and noticed that the girl was not actually lesbian but a trickster, something like the arguement over Dostana. But I personally feel, that for those who understood it, it triggered a thought like never before. As for the rest, some wondered and some questioned the relevance of it. But there was an awareness because of this ad.

Do you remember this Fast Track ad, that was more direct in asking people to “move on” from the closet? I wonder if Karan Johar saw this one. The brand urged people to come out of the closet, saying Move On, which basically encouraged homosexuals to accept their sexualities and soldier on.

Another pathbreaking advertisement shows a lesbian couple getting ready for their parents’ visit. It’s almost like a mooh-dikhaai with a twist.

Remember the advertisement, where a woman is getting ready for a photo shoot with her female partner? She’s rebellious and fights her disapproving father. But when he father watches her photo album with her girlfriend, a change of heart comes about and he accepts her.

There was also a Hindustan Times ad, which showed someone sneering at a same sex couple, being reprimanded by his friend, with a rude tap on his head with the newspaper.

Finally, here’s a hilarious example, where an Indian grandmother on the phone from America, assumes that her grandson is gay and tells him that he could come to the US without fear. She also offers to help him find a nice guy.

It’s time that queer love comes out of the closet and no one puts it better than my Bollywood idol Sridevi in English Vinglish.

Love is beyond gender, Happy Valentine’s day!