Opening the Commercial Closet

Professor Andrew Lear is a world-renowned expert on sexuality in art and the author of the best-known book on sexuality in Greek vase-painting.  He is the founder of Oscar Wilde Tours, the gay history tour company, and Shady Ladies Tours, the woman's history tour company.

Andrew Lear

Opening the Commercial Closet, you’ll be surprised to find that LGBTQ themes in advertising go all the way back to 1917!

<h3>Can't make the live event? Buy a ticket for the recording and watch the event in your own time! See FAQs below for more info.</h3><p></p><p>In this provocative<strong> </strong>and educational multimedia program, watch over 60 commercials and dozens of print ads depicting homophobia, gay stereotypes, queer kisses and parenthood as we explore how cultural shifts, film/TV, HIV/AIDS and Supreme Court decisions have changed representations of our queer community in mass advertising. </p><p>You will see the good, the bad and the ugly from familiar brands, including Joe Namath in pantyhose from 1974 and IKEA’s gay couple from 1994, and other groundbreaking ads that you never knew about. We’ll even touch on the rise of LGBT marketing and some of the best corporate players.</p><p>These ads will surprise and amuse you as we cover four major eras and dive into three CLOSEUP features:</p><ol><li>The Early Years (1917-1980) – Glances, Sissies, Couples, Drag </li><li>Coming Out (1981-2000) – HIV/AIDS Emerges, Gay Vague, Fashion Goes Gay</li><li>‘Gay’ Goes Mainstream (2001-2013) – Queens, Predators &amp; Real LGBT People</li><li>Trans, Employees and Parents (2014-Now)</li></ol><ul><li>CLOSEUP: Film &amp; TV ads – Freaks, Friends, and Frank-N-Furter </li><li>CLOSEUP: LGBT Media &amp; Niche Marketing Rise</li><li>CLOSEUP: History of Kisses</li></ul><p>“Opening the Commercial Closet” offers highlights from the 6,000+ archive of LGBTQ-themed ads at AdRespect.org that tell the still-evolving, multimedia story of our queer history in advertising worldwide.</p>

<p><strong>Michael Wilke</strong> (he/him) is a marketing director and veteran business journalist who has charted the history of LGBTQ themes in advertising since 1992. Michael’s work has contributed to a sea change in LGBTQ representation in advertising. He has written for The New York Times, Advertising Age, Adweek, Queerty and appeared on CNN, Fox News, CNBC, and BBC. In 2001, Michael founded Commercial Closet Association to promote advertising that respects gender identity/expression and sexual orientation. Now known as AdRespect.org, the website contains over 6,000 viewable LGBTQ-themed ads going back to 1917. He has lectured worldwide at universities, corporations and film festivals and his work has been cited in college textbooks, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Newsweek and elsewhere. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in Communications, and City University of New York/Baruch in Marketing, Michael lives with his 6-year-old son in New York City and remembers way too many commercial jingles from childhood.</p>

<h2>FAQs</h2><h3>When will the Zoom invite come?</h3><p>The Zoom invite will be in the CONFIRMATION EMAIL from your order—IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE IT IN YOUR CONFIRMATION EMAIL PLEASE MESSAGE US IMMEDIATELY. Subsequent to this, the Zoom invite will be sent to your email address at 48hrs, 2hrs, and 10mins before the event. PLEASE CHECK YOUR SPAM AND SOCIAL FOLDERS IF YOU DO NOT SEE THE ZOOM INVITE IN YOUR INBOX.</p><h3>How do tickets for the recording work?</h3><p>The event will be recorded and you can buy a ticket for the recording above. If you buy a ticket for the recording you will be emailed automatically a couple of hours after the live event with a link to the recording and a password to access it. It will be available to view for 1 week after the live event. If you do not receive the link to the recording a couple of hours after the live event please email us—sometimes Eventbrite emails can get lost in spam/social folders. If you bought a ticket for the live event but couldn't make it please email us and we will send you the link to the recording.</p><h3>What time zone is the event scheduled in?</h3><p>The event is scheduled for 2pm EST (i.e. New York time). You can watch it in any time zone but please adjust to the time zone you are in.</p><h3>Refund policy?</h3><p>Refunds are available up to the start time of the event. After the start time, refunds are only available if you have been unable to access the event.</p><p></p>

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Opening the Commercial Closet

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