In Vegas, Everyone's Welcome, Even Straight People

That second picture made me laugh pretty hard. The woman is staring DIRECTLY AT the attractive women on the bed and the husband is just giving that, "hot, right?" look. XD

 

I guess I do not generally take adverts seriously enough to be offended by them, although they remind me vaguely of an old comedy sketch someone once did about this exact thing. Which contributes to my inability to take them seriously and therefore prevents the "oh my, that's a bit of an unfair stereotype, what bad taste" thoughts from building up.

 

...wow. i'm surprised (and yet not surprised at the same time) to see these ads. being that i'm from Vegas (born and raised), i've generally been well aware of the skewed ideas that people get about Vegas and how Vegas has been capitalizing on those ideas in a whole new way with the more recent "Only in Vegas" series of ads. personally those ads have been a pain in my ass everywhere i've gone, but i digress...!

what surprises me most is that it's taking this long for the people behind the Vegas tourism ads to finally get up the courage to directly target the LGBT community. "it's about damn time!" is all i really have to say about it. it's about time the LGBT community IN VEGAS made themselves more visible too, especially in the face of ads like these. my biggest fear is that the public (locals included) will see these ads as reenforcing same sex entertainment/relationships/sex as being nothing more than like the other "guilty pleasures" that Vegas ads have pushed over the years.

 

I agree with FruitFly. Ads are meant in good fun unless proved otherwise, I say. And these totally made me laugh, so they can't be that bad.

 

Wow, great ads! Very unrealistic...I think the 2nd one is targeting straight men who want to get their wives to have a 3some.

 

Am I the only one who notices the gay people seem to be the ones half naked and the straight couples are the ones in traditional clothing?

 

Only in the first two, really.

 

The Rainbow is strong with these people.

 

Given that in the two where there are many, many half naked individuals they're by the pool I was under the assumption that would be normal practice. Even if the individuals depicted were not meant to show a frumpy middle aged straight couple amidst a sea of young, toned bodies the concept would be the same; you want to draw focus to the contrast between the two and you do so by developing a rather obvious game of "Where's the straight couple?".

Even the more traditional clothing of the couples would look out of place for most adverts except those targeting that age group in particular. Here at least. Maybe British television has desensitised me.


Editing to add:

However I would say that as an advertising ploy directed at a particular community, as opposed to something that would fit in with satirical sketches, I do think it's distinctly lacking in appeal. I find it humorous, but not enticing. Maybe for a certain subgroup ... a bit like those 18-25 holidays, the adverts are for people within a certain demographic and they appeal to that demographic at the expense of other potential users. I'd assume if they were going to run a campaign directly targeted at the LGBTQ community as a whole they would run a range of adverts focusing on various demographics within it, all of which would probably be intensely stereotypical and have many people saying they lack accuracy but alas such is the world of advertising.

I have yet to find a media campaign that effectively targets entire groups, only ever the generalisations of certain subgroups. They pick their target market and then tailor it in a way that makes their adverts stand out. They want people to spend time looking at them, whether this generates negative or positive feedback is generally irrelevant unless the negative feedback is such that it adversely influences the product (or, in this case, destination) it is trying to draw people towards.

 

Their queer people do not display the variety of gender expression that I would expect from queer people.

I feel like their lesbian ads are very poorly designed to appeal to lesbians. I agree that the second ad, in particular, seems to cater more to the male fantasy of lesbians than to actual lesbians, especially since the dude is looking happy about watching his wife (? they seem like married types, and seeming matters in ads) look at the lesbians.

I wouldn't necessarily say I'm offended by them, but they don't really make me want to go to Vegas.

 

@FruitFly, you actually make a good point there about UK television; maybe the way we look a this is determined by what you're used to. I'm used to gay couples being depicted in a very casual, ordinary every-day way. I've never seen advertisements like these.

I don't know, I'm not easily offended at all, but I find this really offensive. Why are all the gay couples looking at each other with lust in their eyes and all over each other, touching each other? When the straight couple is completely ordinary, the perfect man and wife. Isn't an ad like this supposed to show we're all the same in some way?

 

Those ads are awesome!!

---------- Post added 25th Jan 2013 at 07:20 AM ----------

I've never been to Vegas but it does seem unrealistic. And I doubt that all the lesbian and gay couples are the only ones walking around with nothing on.

 

I find them very humorous and also interesting because they flip the paradigm on straight individuals in a way that I think gives a little perspective. To me they scream "Hey straight people this ad in reverse is life for gay people so we are making an ad which makes them feel more welcome for once instead of targeting you." Now I can see how they may be construed as saying "We are tired of this inclusivity BS for gays lets flip the switch on them and see what its like to be on the other side of it" but I just can't see that being the intention. Not to mention to intentionally send that message requires ignoring reality.

I will say the representation is sort of stereotypical and off color in that way and the way they portray lesbians in the second ad seems to communicate they are clearly lacking lesbian perspective there as it looks almost like a porn shoot (although it reads as sex sells so lets sell sex to lesbians to me). Also they portray LGBT people as being fashionable, sexy, party goers where as the straights are normal and just "bleh" which to some straights I imagine could be construed as a negative portrayal of us but given the ads I just can't seem to believably go with the idea that the possible negative connotations are by any means purposeful or strong enough to be overtly offensive.

 

It's not so much that we have lots of adverts that portray gay couples in this way, just that it has made me perhaps far too ready to laugh at things such as this since it's obviously playing on stereotypes. It's a difference in perception too, I view them and laugh at the way they've gone about things. Perhaps I give them the benefit of the doubt that it's designed to deliberately play on the stereotypes rather than be taken completely seriously.

Sex sells. As does playing off of stereotypes. It's a calculated risk. If it generates too many negative comments, it will be pulled and an apology issued. If there are a small minority making a big fuss but the overall reception is positive then it's ultimately worth it. Controversy can do wonders for business.

 

That's AWESOME. It'd be even more awesome to see these ads in a place that isn't notorious for gambling, drinking, deviancy, etc.

Plus, the ads make gays look like zoo animals.

 

I think that it's a good idea from an advertising standpoint. They probably wanted to stir up some controversy so that the ads would be viewed more.

 

I love them!

 

nah doesnt offend me in any way shape or form, the second pic made me grin i dont see why it would offend strait people either?

 

Ok I got distracted by the guy in yellow trunks from the first pic what was the question again oh ok well I actually think the ads are kinda of funny I don't see a problem with them I think we could use more gay stuff on tv instead of everything only involving straight people all the time.