LGBT Advertising

For class this past week, we read an interesting article by Katherine Sender entitled "Sex Sells: Sex, Class and Taste in Commercial Gay and Lesbian Media." The article alleged that magazines with a focus on gay issues were less likely to use sexual appeal in their advertising than comparable "straight" magazines. While straight-audience magazines like Esquire and GQ rely heavily on scantily-clad beautiful people, publications like Advocate, perhaps ironically, were more conservative in their advertising. This isn't evidence of prudishness on the part of the gay magazine editors; rather, it shows how careful these magazines have to be to maintain the respect of the publishing world.

Many editors of traditionally gay magazines keep sex-related advertising out of their publications in numerous capacities and for numerous reasons. There are essentially two level of sex-based advertising that editors may try to keep out: sex-appeal advertising like Calvin Klein ads, and sex advertising like 900 numbers and escort services. The motivation to ban the former is primarily an audience-based choice, since a gay audience would be less interested in straight-targeted sex appeal advertising, and because lesbians would not be receptive to advertising targeted toward gay men, and vice versa. The latter is of graver concern.

Permitting advertisers representing sex line and escort service companies to advertise in non-pornographic gay magazines presents three major problems. First, as an aesthetic choice, any classy vibe given off by a magazine is erased once that kind of advertising is permitted. Second, that kind of advertising reinforces inaccurate stereotypes about the gay community as a sex-crazed clutch of degenerates who get their kicks from phone sex and prostitutes. Third, sex advertising limits the number of venues that editors can put their magazines; it certainly rules out sending copies of their magazine to schools for educational purposes. Considering all that, it would be senseless for editors of non-pornographic gay magazines to permit sex advertising.

Unfortunately, classy gay magazines don't operate on a level playing field, and their straight counterparts can get away with a lot more, both in advertising and in content. Gay magazines are constantly under harsh scrutiny, and they have to do everything right to maintain the respect of the journalism community. Considering the inherently unfair double standard that gay magazines are faced with, their editors do a generally excellent job of keeping their status as respectable publications, and a big part of that is the selectivity they exercise when selling ads.