This is something that has been grinding my gears for a really long time now. Open any gay magazine and inside,all you see are ads featuring gay white men. Occasionally, they will throw a Spanish person in the ad but he will be so light he might as well be white. Do Black gay men not go on cruises and buy slutty underwear?!?!?! Because from the looks of these ads,I'd say NO.
Now,I'm not saying these two companies have never used Black models. In the past 5 months,I've actually found one Andrew christian ad that featured TWO Spanish models. And Atlantis Cruises has two photos with Black guys in them but I'm not sure when those were actually taken.
I don't at all believe it is the sole job of any company to represent every facet of any community. I mean,where would it end....gay midgets,gay siamese twins, Justin Bieber? But as a money spending member of the gay community,I'd like for once to see someone who looks like me in these ads. You want me to spend my dollars on your crap but nowhere in your ads do I see beautiful,strong Black men looking back at me, getting their asses soaped up or frolicking in the waves or playing grab ass in a locker room or having an intimate sleepover with 4-5 other gay guys.
They say in advertising,you buy into the ad because part of you wants to FUCK the model selling you the wares,the other half of you wants to BE them. Well,I freely admit I have a weakness for white men but I don't have a racial preference when it comes to who I choose to date/sleep with but when it comes to gay media, people of color are left out of the advertising commentary,it subliminally says there's something wrong with being Black. Or worst yet...we're invisible.
From a social standpoint, it bothers me because right now the gay community is fighting a big fight for marriage equality. And we're all supposed to stand up and sign the petitions and stand in the rallies and add numbers to the fight but at the end of the day,you don't even acknowledge us in the bars, clubs, advertising, tv shows or porn. If we want equality everywhere, we need to start by having equality in our own community. We need more images of all parts of our community to be seen. Until Then...
Now,I'm not saying these two companies have never used Black models. In the past 5 months,I've actually found one Andrew christian ad that featured TWO Spanish models. And Atlantis Cruises has two photos with Black guys in them but I'm not sure when those were actually taken.
I don't at all believe it is the sole job of any company to represent every facet of any community. I mean,where would it end....gay midgets,gay siamese twins, Justin Bieber? But as a money spending member of the gay community,I'd like for once to see someone who looks like me in these ads. You want me to spend my dollars on your crap but nowhere in your ads do I see beautiful,strong Black men looking back at me, getting their asses soaped up or frolicking in the waves or playing grab ass in a locker room or having an intimate sleepover with 4-5 other gay guys.
They say in advertising,you buy into the ad because part of you wants to FUCK the model selling you the wares,the other half of you wants to BE them. Well,I freely admit I have a weakness for white men but I don't have a racial preference when it comes to who I choose to date/sleep with but when it comes to gay media, people of color are left out of the advertising commentary,it subliminally says there's something wrong with being Black. Or worst yet...we're invisible.
From a social standpoint, it bothers me because right now the gay community is fighting a big fight for marriage equality. And we're all supposed to stand up and sign the petitions and stand in the rallies and add numbers to the fight but at the end of the day,you don't even acknowledge us in the bars, clubs, advertising, tv shows or porn. If we want equality everywhere, we need to start by having equality in our own community. We need more images of all parts of our community to be seen. Until Then...