jawbone: “sean & randy”.

Hmmm. So, part of me wants to get offended that Jawbone is hoping people’s out-dated over-reactions to homosexuals making out will make them think this ad is funny. The other part of me wants to watch these two rugby dudes get Greek on each other. I’m not sure which part is winning, but what I do know is that I definitely don’t feel any closer to being one of those jerk-offs that walks down the street talking into a cel phone headset. From a distance, headsets make you look like you’re delusional and talking to yourself. From close up, they make you look like a douche.

Using a headset is lose-lose. Not even shirtless male rugby players making out will change that.

(Agency: Anomaly)

levi’s goes both ways.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Even though this spot doesn’t take as brave or inclusive a stance as homo-positive advertising from Ikea or even Guiness, it’s at least one step closer to the front of the bus.

Last year Levi’s produced two versions of “Change”, one in which the standard male hottie encounters the expected female hottie and another where he bats his freshly denim-clad eyes at… another dude! One of the things I like about this spot is that instead of creating two separate spots – one with a more stereotypically “gay” looking couple and another with a hetero one – it uses the exact same footage of the main hero guy and just gives two separate endings. While this is admittedly kind of bisexual and played-out metrosexual, and it could even be argued that this sort of main-streaming dilutes the point of the message, I think it strengthens it. Though clearly not pushing anything as scandalous as leading the two gents to hold hands, at least they look lustily at each other.

Here’s the hetero version (which played on mainstream networks):

And here’s the homo version (which, disappointingly, only aired on the gay US network Logo):

(Agency: BBH New York)

I would have been really impressed if they’d had the balls to air this during the Super Bowl or WWF or something, though I’m hardly shocked that they only played it on the gay channel. I’m also not naïve enough to think this was done with any real idea of diversity – savvy companies are beginning to realize that gays and lesbians are affluent, like to buy shit, and are chronically under-marketed to. Any kind of gay advertising by a company this large is a move for dollars first. If by it’s very existence the ads push forward awareness or advancement of homosexual rights, it’s just a happy by-product.