An advertising campaign that depicted two men embracing has resulted in one company losing thousands of social media followers.
The BBC reports that Dutch menswear specialist Suitsupply recently ran ads for its new spring/summer collection featuring two men in a range of romantic poses.
While the imagery has resulted in a lot of praise, there has also been criticism, and Dutch paper Handelsblad reports that the chain’s Instagram follower count has plummeted by 10,000 as a result.
Suitsupply owns 91 stores across 22 countries.
"The attraction between people is an important part of fashion advertising,” founder and chief executive Fokke de Jong said prior to the campaign’s launch. "A campaign featuring the attraction between men was long overdue and particularly relevant for our brand.
"We do believe there is potential for negative impact, especially in countries where we have a significant presence, that are known for contrasting viewpoints."
Polarised opinion
The truth is that any campaign which seems to endorse either side of a debate – be that left or right, gay or straight, black or white – is likely to provoke a backlash from opponents.
In April 2017 Nivea was strongly criticised for its “White is Purity” campaign, for obvious reasons. The same company had previously invoked ire in 2011 after an ad showing a black man throwing away a Neanderthal mask that was captioned “recivilise yourself”.
On a similar theme, Sony was slammed in 2006 for advertising the upcoming release of a white iteration of its portable console the PSP with an ad entitled “White is Coming” that showed a white woman violently gripping the face of a black woman.
In 2015 Bic ran a Women’s Day ad in South Africa that included the tagline: “Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a boss”. Understandably, folks were miffed. In the same year Amazon promoted its new series Man In the High Castle by dressing a New York subway cars in faux Nazi and Imperial Japanese iconography.
However, there are of course always benefits to demonstrating that your brand champions equality and treats all customers equally. This is especially true in fashion. Levi’s colourful ad from late last year is a good example of how inclusive advertising can be embraced.
