I can’t stand GayMatchMaker.com.au. This Gaydar-wannabe site has relied on cringe-worthy representations of the gay community since its inception. Its late-night TV ads, presenting a pathetic array of (poorly executed) cartoon scene stereotypes, are loathsome. Then you have their recent print ad, a detail of which I’ve snapped here:
The male model is your stock-standard plastic affair. I have grown (almost) immune to this. But look at the tatt on his shoulder (gay men love tattoos!):
It’s a drag queen verging on a nervous breakdown. Not only is she wiping a tear from her eye, she’s had to pour herself a calming cup of tea. And here’s the clincher – she’s so distraught she hasn’t shaved her legs for at least a week by the looks of things.
I’m struggling to fathom the thinking process behind this and I have a few questions.
Are they suggesting that, unless you immediately sign up to GayMatchMaker – on which you will undoubtedly find that Perfect Match Who Looks Just Like The Model Pictured – you’ll end up a joke of a downtrodden mess?
Why does the drag queen have more body hair than the model?
Why hasn’t the site fired (or deported) their marketing people?
We may never know.
1 comment:
The ad actually DOES clearly insinuate that you'll end up sad, lonely and desperate if you don't join. To me it's always seemed that gaymatchmaker is just an arm of a larger concern run by straights because of the way the ad represents. That said, It's also mostly embarassing the way that gay men are represented in the media, even by other gay-run businesses looking to make a buck.
It's humiliating from straights, tragic from gays and simply reinforces stereotypes in a totally disempowering way, just like in the movies when it seems the gay character most often comes to a "sticky end".That's why I try to have nothing to do with anything any more.
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