Nik lives in Essex, UK and works in London as the editor of MacUser magazine. The posts and comments on this site do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions of values of his employers.
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It looks like I may have opened a can of worms with that Tesco goes gay posting. I’ve had quite a bit of feedback, a few comments to the posting, and today, a call from the BBC. Actually, an email that I ignored, and then a phone call mid-afternoon from Radio 5.
They were going to do a story on it on the news that night. They’d got someone from Tesco to come on and defend the ads and asked me if I’d go on and be opposed. I think they thought this was going to be an easy one until I said I didn’t actually find the adverts offensive, and then things all went a bit flat.
Suddenly they weren’t interested at all, which in honesty was a bit of a relief as I don’t have any time for doing radio this week. I’ve been working late in the office and then coming home and working on - last night until midnight - so have no time for getting worked up about something like a supermarket.
Anyhow, they asked me if I knew anyone who was (or might be) outraged about them, which I thought was a bit of a shame. Surely it would have been just as representative to have had Tesco on there opposite someone who should have been offended but wasn’t. Not everyone is going to find the ads a slur, but if they are only interested in having representation from those who did, then it’s not going to be a very balanced story, is it.
Since getting home I have heard from someone else they called. He, too, said he wasn’t particularly opposed to them and has been left hanging on with no idea of whether they are going to use him or not.
I find it all a bit disappointing, really. I’d have much rather heard this worked up into a nice little story about how Britain is clearly modern enough for people not to get upset about that kind of thing. A bit of good news for a change.
I suppose it may still turn out that way if they can’t find anyone at all who’ll speak against Tesco, but I’m not going to be staying up late to find out.
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3 Responses to “Tesco ads, pt 2”
I think I’m the “someone else they called”. And, from the feedback I’ve got, to say that “Britain is clearly modern enough for people not to get upset about that kind of thing” probably simplifies things too far in the other direction.
True, the Tesco ads aren’t offensive in, say, the way the Yahoo! TV ads of last year were — they don’t portray gay men as intrinsically sexual predators, for example. But still, the imagery is still aimed at straight people, using overused clich
• Posted at 2:14 am on January 9th, 2004 by Scott.Good point! I’ve rather been holding back my opinion on this issue, partly because I wanted to see what others had to say about it, but this is precisely why I find this advertising campaign offensive, because it feeds off old time prejudice and makes gay men look silly. We’ve had ads here in Iceland showing gay couples going about their normal daily routine or gay people holding hands, being in love, that sort of stuff - and that is what I’d like to see, gay people being pictured as normal.
• Posted at 1:24 pm on January 9th, 2004 by Krist.Leave a Reply
Isn’t it just hetros that are getting worked up about this?
• Posted at 12:08 am on January 9th, 2004 by Krist.