Left, Right, and Center

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 09:50 AM\']As for Wink, a paycheck is a paycheck, and I think a lot of liberals would be surprised at how many Christian conservatives are not militantly anti-gay.

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Or Christians of other kinds.

Kirstin Chenoweth is the Broadway musical star who's on "The West Wing" and would probably do a lot of celeb game shows if they were still around, since she is smart and cute.  She's also a deeply religious woman who has put out an album of mostly sacred music because, as she put it, "I want to prove that there is such a thing as a liberal Christian."  She was then booked into a "Women of Faith" concert scheduled for November in her home state of Oklahoma--but was forced to bow out "... due to her publicized and heartfelt beliefs that God is accepting of all people on earth. Kristin's personal views and faith to this effect have not changed, despite the Women of Faith's actions":

http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=4905

As someone who attended for a while a Lutheran congregation in Chicago who was very gay-and-lesbian-friendly, the moral is to not generalize.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 07:50 AM\']Still, no matter how enlightened you pretend to be, if you're only familiar with the mainstream campaign, seeing the gay one can be startling.  A fellow member of this forum actually saw my jaw drop the first time I caught the spot.
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Exactly. What surprised me was the overt inclusion of what (if I were gay) I would consider to be totally offensive stereotypes. Everyone (except Wink) was COMPLETELY, well, flaming, and the location of the hotel (I said Miami Beach or Key West before, but now I'm thinking it was San Francisco) was very obviously in what is thought of as a gay population center.

The functional equivalent would have a been a version on BET looking for a hotel in Compton that includes parking for a Cadillac and serves watermelon.

I don't get it. Either the gay community thinks the ad is splendid, which I don't get, because I think it does them a great disservice, or Orbitz completely missed the boat with it, which I don't get, because I can't think any ad company would be that abjectly STUPID.

(Of course, I've learned over time, that given two options, betting on the one that would come about from people being moronic is the safe move.)

[The Pyramids]

Rereading the earlier posts I recalled one of the gag categoreis on the last '$20,000 Pyramid' was 'Thing Kissinger Didn't Screw Up,' perhaps implying democratic leanings on the 'Pyramid' staff.

[Casey]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 12:01 PM\'][quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 07:50 AM\']Still, no matter how enlightened you pretend to be, if you're only familiar with the mainstream campaign, seeing the gay one can be startling.  A fellow member of this forum actually saw my jaw drop the first time I caught the spot.
[/quote]
Exactly. What surprised me was the overt inclusion of what (if I were gay) I would consider to be totally offensive stereotypes. Everyone (except Wink) was COMPLETELY, well, flaming, and the location of the hotel (I said Miami Beach or Key West before, but now I'm thinking it was San Francisco) was very obviously in what is thought of as a gay population center.

The functional equivalent would have a been a version on BET looking for a hotel in Compton that includes parking for a Cadillac and serves watermelon.

I don't get it. Either the gay community thinks the ad is splendid, which I don't get, because I think it does them a great disservice, or Orbitz completely missed the boat with it, which I don't get, because I can't think any ad company would be that abjectly STUPID.

(Of course, I've learned over time, that given two options, betting on the one that would come about from people being moronic is the safe move.)

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Prior to the Wink-hosted campaign, Orbitz ran another ad with a gay theme that was a bit less stereotypical.  It did conclude with "see Orbitz for all of your gay travel needs" or something along that line.  

Now, on a personal note, while I don't think the ad is "splendid" and I do think it would have been better if they didn't have all of the actors playing the part like Jack from Will & Grace, a part of me is kind of happy to see an ad featuring gay characters at all, even if it is during Queer Eye on Bravo.  Just a few years ago no one would have even touched an ad like this.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 04:37 PM\']a part of me is kind of happy to see an ad featuring gay characters at all, even if it is during Queer Eye on Bravo.  Just a few years ago no one would have even touched an ad like this.

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Except they don't think enough of the gay community to realize that not all of them DO act like Jack on W&G, and that not all of them make a beeline for SF or Key West.

I think it goes back to my basic question of why a "gay travel" service (or ANY gay-centric service) NEEDS to exist when the gay lobby screams about wanting to be treated like everyone else.

[Unrealtor]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 06:48 PM\'][quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 04:37 PM\']a part of me is kind of happy to see an ad featuring gay characters at all, even if it is during Queer Eye on Bravo.  Just a few years ago no one would have even touched an ad like this.

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Except they don't think enough of the gay community to realize that not all of them DO act like Jack on W&G, and that not all of them make a beeline for SF or Key West.

I think it goes back to my basic question of why a "gay travel" service (or ANY gay-centric service) NEEDS to exist when the gay lobby screams about wanting to be treated like everyone else.

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The commercials aren't ideal but, as far as I'm concerned, going from invisible to a demographic is a step up.

As far as the need for it, we aren't treated like everyone else by a sizable percentage of this country and the world, and, as long as we aren't, it's beneficial to have services to point out who is, at a minimum, not unfriendly.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Unrealtor\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 06:26 PM\']As far as the need for it, we aren't treated like everyone else by a sizable percentage of this country and the world, and, as long as we aren't, it's beneficial to have services to point out who is, at a minimum, not unfriendly.

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A good point. Fair enough.

[Kent Broyhill]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 05:38 AM\']As for Wink, a paycheck is a paycheck, and I think a lot of liberals would be surprised at how many Christian conservatives are not militantly anti-gay.

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Wink Martindale is probably a well-rounded individual who forms his political views depending on each individual issue, not always taking the right-leaning views on everything!    

[Kent Broyhill]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Oct 3 2005, 04:12 PM\'][quote name=\'mmb5\' date=\'Oct 3 2005, 12:39 PM\']Another way to get answers would be to see where they put their money.  This is from newsmeat.com:

Bob Barker - gave $2,000 to Bill Young (R-FL)

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An interesting list.  I assume that Barker's contribution was based on Young's animal right issues' view--I can't imagine him contributing for any other reason but.  Could Young had been behind banning greyhound racing?

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More than likely, it had something to do with animal rights.  I always imagined Bob Barker being more left-leaning politically, as animal rights activists generally do.

[chris319]

For affinity marketing to work, the subjects of commercials must identifiably belong to the target group. If you're targeting blacks/Hispanics/women/young/old/gays, commercials must feature blacks/Hispanics/women/young/old/gays. In this case, the way to make the character identifiably gay is to make him a little stereotypical and bet that they don't get jumped on for playing up the stereotype.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Oct 4 2005, 11:27 PM\']In this case, the way to make the character identifiably gay is to make him a little stereotypical and bet that they don't get jumped on for playing up the stereotype.

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I dunno. I was pretty sure he was gay when he was announced with and walked out of the door with his new boyfriend.

[GMar]

Although I'm mostly a "reader", not much of a "poster", this has been a very interesting thread!  This brings me to a curiousity question.  It seems I remember reading about a heated discussion that took place a year or so ago on Sean Hannity's radio show between Hannity and Marc Summers. Summers supposedly blasted Hannity for some reason or another, but a day or so later called back to apologize. Does anybody remember that incident or what the discussion was about? Thanks, GMar

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'GMar\' date=\'Oct 7 2005, 12:13 PM\']It seems I remember reading about a heated discussion that took place a year or so ago on Sean Hannity's radio show between Hannity and Marc Summers. Summers supposedly blasted Hannity for some reason or another, but a day or so later called back to apologize. Does anybody remember that incident or what the discussion was about? [/quote]
November, 2003.  From what I understand, Summers was just a regular caller, not an invited guest.  He didn't even say his name until later, he just identified himself as a TV host.  He called with a general, generic bashing of Hannity, mostly calling him Limbaugh-lite, to which Hannity responded with bashing of his own.  Once Hannity learned who he was, Hannity had the chance to make it personal himself, making fun of Summers' low-rated and low-brow ventures.

It went on for a few minutes and was by all accounts very heated.  A couple days later, Summers called back to apologize and make nice, fawning over Hannity in an almost total reversal from the first day.  Pretty weird stuff.

[GMar]

Thanks for the fill-in, Matt. Always wondered what that was all about. I would love to hear tapes of both of those calls! Thanks again.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Oct 7 2005, 01:36 PM\']He called with a general, generic bashing of Hannity, mostly calling him Limbaugh-lite
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Well, ain't libel (or, in this case, slander) when it's true...