With and without major lipstick.
Posted on 06/08/2009 12:57:12 PM PDT by presidio9
The Spot: Two guys walk into a store that sells insurance services from Progressive. The first guy says he needs to save some money on his auto insurance—things have gotten so dire that he was forced to sell his watch to the other guy. After the clerk finds a lower coverage rate, she suggests that the first guy will now be able to buy his watch back. "Not for sale," says the second guy. "That's cold," says the clerk.
Are they or aren't they? There's been chatter on the Web, and in YouTube comments, about whether the two guys in this Progressive commercial are supposed to be a couple. The evidence is thin but as best I can tell consists of the following elements:
The tall guy's speech and mannerisms seem to be tripping a lot of folks' gaydar. Something in the way the men look at each other—close together, face-to-face—suggests they're not just hetero buddies. When the clerk asks if money's been tight, she looks back and forth between the two guys as though she's assuming they're a joint entity. The clincher: The shorter guy appears to be wearing a rainbow T-shirt beneath his blazer. Ads featuring gay characters are exceedingly rare, bordering on nonexistent, when it comes to mainstream network television. (It may be indicative that GLAAD's Commercial Closet, a repository of gay-themed ads, includes several spots that are merely "gay vague"—for instance, this Bud ad in which a guy rehearses his marriage proposal while kneeling before a male friend.) Perhaps this Progressive ad was designed to split the difference: subtly winking at the gay community while making no definitive statement on the characters' sexuality.
It's worth remembering that Progressive has a famously nontraditional corporate culture. The
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
After seeing the ad, I would wonder where the sandwich had been before being served to a customer.
I vote GAY.
I think that you have an overly simplistic take on things. Very few of the posters here (or the ones on Slate who agree with us on this one) are seeing what we are seeing because we are obsessed with gay issues. What we might be obsessed with is the thought that popular programming has long been pushing several agendas on us that we don't agree with. Now it has spread to advertising content. We notice that there is an ambiguously gay message here because the creators intentionall put it there.
Was wondering if anyone saw anything in Progressive's follow up commercial:
Progressive Insurance Commercial - Flo Takes a "Long Walk"
To me, it seems as if this new commercial projects the exact opposite message. That Progressive Insurance is trying to say, as stated in the ad, also friendly to "customers of all shapes and sizes". (i.e. Conservatives.)
Hmmm...Rancher, boyscout, married couple, construction worker, even Elvis. Gotta remember that every aspect to these commercials is supposedly carefully chosen.
Seems to me that they were worried that putting a gay couple out there would turn off middle America. So they threw this commercial out there as a way of subconsciously saying that Progressive also values the business of Conservative America.
P.S. Flo has got to go. Was cute for a while but now she just grates on me.
Patrick Fitzgerald and Gerald Fitzpatrick?
“I find slightly psycotic and overly made up women extremely attractive. Rose on “Two-an-a-Half-Men”, Flo, that medtech on NCIS. Yeooowh!”
How many times have you been married and do you still have all of your body parts?
Flo commercials: funny.
Were the guys queer? Haven't seen commercial, but without seeing it, I'd say "probably." I haven't seen them peddle to that group yet.
if you know anything about Progressive, you would have no doubts
How could you leave out the best one: Beauty Pagent contestant? Seen from the side and the back immediately after the "opposite marriage" couple. I'm wondering whether this ad was created after the Miss USA Pageant, because then the intention would be obvious.
With and without major lipstick.
Ghost woman says, “Saved yourself some money. so, buy a new outfit. Go out and meet a man. Or woman. I don’t judge.”<<<<<<<<<<
Can’t stand those Ikea commercials, they are weird. In another one, the ghost woman chides the homeowner for having some sort of food secret that a little kid has figured out. Strange....
Thanks.
Wow, how could I be so incredibly blind. I wrote it off as someone attending the prom. Completely missed the beauty queen-gay marriage connection.
I picked up that they were gay right away. I think the commercial is supposed to be ambiguous on purpose, so as to send a message to the homos, but not make it patently clear to the rest of us. I guarantee that the homos are seeing them as a gay couple.
NOT GUILTY!
Everyone can enjoy? Really? Why would you need to make such as statement unless you were perceived as not being for everyone?
huh, never thought of that, usually when any commerical comes on the channel it gets changed, or if I have dvr'd it I skip the commerical. I never tought anything gay in that, except it's an annoying commerical, my pops hates the woman lol.
I've seen it again more than a few times by now - these guys are most definitely GAY.
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