Homosexuality in U.S Advertising and Marketplace
The LGBT community consists of a population of 18.5 million, where they total an annual income of $514 billion in the United States.14 This suggests that LGBT consumers have a significantly high purchasing power. Despite this fact, the LGBT market is undervalued and unexplored market niche.14 Many companies are afraid of including LGBT people and themes in their advertisements due to the negative repercussions that can derive from society’s perception on homosexuality.1 However, there are companies that advertise LGBT people and themes such as gay marriage however are penalized when doing so. Some of these companies include JC Penny and Target.10 The question that …show more content…
Thus, the only way to counteract this notion, it is imperative for companies to challenge institutions that categorize people of the LGBT community as abnormal to heterosexual norm.
In most cases, many companies that get involved in advertising homosexuality are either asked to remove their advertisement or boycotted until forced out of business. For instance, J.C. Penny began to suffer from a …show more content…
Foucault stresses that whoever is in control of knowledge and power, is responsible for society’s interpretation on certain groups of people, such as the LGBT community.16 In other words, Foucault is stating that institutions that determine what can be talked about; also determine what is known, which has a great influence how individuals in society think.16 As stated by Foucault, sex is an object of knowledge; therefore the people who control this knowledge have a great impact on how individuals think about sexuality.16 Therefore in this case, the AFA has control over what is considered to be an acceptable form of a company’s operation in terms of advertising in the market. The AFA is an organization in which is operated under conservative Christian values, where they are opposed to practices including same-sex marriage and abortion, which are values that they impose on company’s like JC. Penny.9 However, the company has expressed interest and support for the LGBT community, but the influence of AFA’s perception on homosexuality represses companies like JC Penny from voicing their opinions. The institution of religion and marriage imposed by the AFA, serves as an example on how they claimed/repressed the discourse of sexuality in advertising, they have taken complete control on what images and messages that can be expressed in advertising, which in turn
The LGBT community consists of a population of 18.5 million, where they total an annual income of $514 billion in the United States.14 This suggests that LGBT consumers have a significantly high purchasing power. Despite this fact, the LGBT market is undervalued and unexplored market niche.14 Many companies are afraid of including LGBT people and themes in their advertisements due to the negative repercussions that can derive from society’s perception on homosexuality.1 However, there are companies that advertise LGBT people and themes such as gay marriage however are penalized when doing so. Some of these companies include JC Penny and Target.10 The question that …show more content…
Thus, the only way to counteract this notion, it is imperative for companies to challenge institutions that categorize people of the LGBT community as abnormal to heterosexual norm.
In most cases, many companies that get involved in advertising homosexuality are either asked to remove their advertisement or boycotted until forced out of business. For instance, J.C. Penny began to suffer from a …show more content…
Foucault stresses that whoever is in control of knowledge and power, is responsible for society’s interpretation on certain groups of people, such as the LGBT community.16 In other words, Foucault is stating that institutions that determine what can be talked about; also determine what is known, which has a great influence how individuals in society think.16 As stated by Foucault, sex is an object of knowledge; therefore the people who control this knowledge have a great impact on how individuals think about sexuality.16 Therefore in this case, the AFA has control over what is considered to be an acceptable form of a company’s operation in terms of advertising in the market. The AFA is an organization in which is operated under conservative Christian values, where they are opposed to practices including same-sex marriage and abortion, which are values that they impose on company’s like JC. Penny.9 However, the company has expressed interest and support for the LGBT community, but the influence of AFA’s perception on homosexuality represses companies like JC Penny from voicing their opinions. The institution of religion and marriage imposed by the AFA, serves as an example on how they claimed/repressed the discourse of sexuality in advertising, they have taken complete control on what images and messages that can be expressed in advertising, which in turn