For decades, advertisers and agencies have used sports to appeal to the mass consumer market. For a far shorter time, advertisers and agencies have run campaigns aimed at the gay and lesbian market.
Now, much as peanut butter and chocolate formed a serendipitous union in commercials for Reese's candy, those previously disparate elements are coming together as campaigns aimed at gays begin to feature athletes and sports imagery, and campaigns intended for the general market begin to feature gay and lesbian athletes.
The nascent trend is indicative of efforts by marketers to sharpen and freshen sales pitches, particularly during tougher economic times when they seek to spend limited ad budgets more effectively and efficiently. Indeed, the increasing interest among mainstream marketers in the gay market can be traced to the recession a decade ago.
"It's a recognition that accomplishment has a lot of different faces," said Bob Witeck, a partner at Witeck Combs Communications in Washington, which specializes in corporate communications campaigns aimed at the gay and lesbian market for advertisers like the Coors Brewing Co division of the Adolph Coors Co.
One example of this new face of sports marketing is a print advertisement for Coors beer featuring Bruce Hayes, who won medals swimming in the 1984 Summer Olympics and the 1994 Gay Games. Hayes is the first openly gay athlete included in the campaign, created by the Chicago office of FCB Worldwide, part of the Interpublic Group of Cos. Among the other athletes featured in the campaign, which carries the theme "Be original," are Joe Montana, Magic Johnson and Hank Aaron.
"The universe of corporations doing this is still pretty small, but progress is progress," said Hayes, a public relations executive in New York. "It's a good sign."
"I hope I'm not seen as an Olympic gold medalist who happens to be gay," he added, "but someone active in the community who's tied to sports."
Another example is a campaign appearing in mainstream media for the 2002 Subaru Forester, sold by Fuji Heavy Industries, featuring the tennis star Martina Navratilova, who had long expressed concern about losing endorsement contracts because she is a lesbian. Navratilova is one of three female athletes in the television and print campaign, carrying the theme "What are you made of?" by Temerlin McClain in Irving, Texas, also owned by Interpublic.
Two Major League baseball teams, the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants, are starting to aim ads and promotions at gay fans. At least six teams in the Women's National Basketball Association are taking similar steps, to encourage lesbians to attend games and to thank those already buying tickets for doing so.
Then there's a print ad for the furniture sold by the Mitchell Gold Co, running in mainstream publications as well as magazines read by gay men and lesbians. The ad shows Corey Johnson, who attracted national attention after identifying himself as gay while playing football for a high school in Massachusetts. Johnson, now 19, peers from the ad, by Luquire George Andrews in Charlotte, North Carolina, as if poised for a big game, wearing a football uniform, shoulder pads and eye black.
"I've had people come up to me and say `Did I see you in a furniture ad?'" Johnson said, laughing.
"Gay professional athletes talk about a large reason why they don't come out is because they'll lose their endorsements," he added. "Here, you have an athlete who is gay, and the reason he is in the ad is that he's gay."
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