ILoveGay.NET

by Alfred Verhoeven

We all want to go viral, don’t we? But can it also be for the wrong reasons? Or is viral = viral = good? I looked at the most visited videos on my YouTube channel and the reasons for that attention.

As I spent the past few years trying to understand whether, why and how brands and organizations targeted the LGBT consumer (visitor, member, subscriber, reader, customer, client, guest, viewer, listener), an important source of information was acquired through videos: first TV commercials, then online commercials, then clips on social media, and in recent years especially lifestyle videos that are sometimes minutes long, (mini) documentaries or even entire series of portraits and stories.

At first it was a search that sometimes involved a lot of effort to find something that was written about in an article or on social, especially when it came to looking back (“remember, that first IKEA commercial in the US with two men on the kitchen table?”). But the internet is merciless and has a memory like an elephant: it’s rare that I couldn’t find something, but if it took me some effort, so it would for many other interested people.

YouTube Channel

I then started a YouTube channel to serve as an online archive. What started with the popping up of an obscure video – certainly in the period before 2015 when the material was still relatively scarce – resulted in a collection of now a total of 1,700 videos. I got 14.3 million impressions, 3.2 million views, 55,500 hours of ‘viewing pleasure’ with an average viewing time of more than 1 minute – and that with only 2,500 subscribers. By the way, my primary goal is not to get more subscribers, because I don’t monetize the channel. About that viewing pleasure: I never turn off the comments under a clip – which is increasingly being done by the advertisers themselves – and

I have sometimes known that with the viral, high-profile videos, in which especially from a religious angle (Christian, Muslim and Jewish ) was widely hated and commented on. So it wasn’t much fun there. Although it seems like a lot of these trolls like to hate, so then the circle is round again.

I find it remarkable that just over 1/3 (36.4%) of visitors are from the US, with the UK in second place with 8.1% and the Netherlands only in 10th place with 1.9% . Most of the content comes from the US, but I expected a larger part of Dutch.

Now for the top 10: I should of course start with the 10th place, but then it goes a bit like a night candle, because I have already written a combined article about the numbers 1 and 2 once. So from the top:

1. Doritos, The Best Gift (Mexico, 2020), 242,074 views, 93.7% likes, 502 comments. This touching Spanish-language story that came out around Christmas attracted so much audience because I offered it with English subtitles, and because of that it was also linked to, for example, Buzzfeed. It went viral in Mexico with 13 million views in one week.

It was in stark contrast to this English video that came out around the same time. I compare the two in “From hate to endearment”.

2. Cadbury, It’s the Creme Egg Golden Goobilee (UK, 2021), 230,084 views, but a much lower like ratio of 42.8% and a whopping 2,500 comments. Here I really had to report and remove hundreds of people for hate. And that for ‘not even a kiss’.

3. Snickers – El Chiringuito (“The Little Bar”, Spain, 2021), 189,911 views, 721 comments, 87.6% like ratio. This is where Snickers probably went viral unintentionally. They withdrew this controversial ad within days of its launch and profusely apologized for any “misunderstanding that may have been caused” after the 20-second clip was widely condemned for being homophobic.

The ad shows gay Spanish influencer Aless Gibaja ordering a “sexy orange juice” in a  very camp way, while hisa friend exchanges surprised looks with the waiter. Latter responds by handing Gibaja a Snickers ice cream bar, and after one bite, Gibaja changes into a bearded man with a deep voice. “Better?” asks the friend. “Better,” the man replies as the tagline reads, “You’re not yourself when you’re hungry.”

This slogan has been used by Snickers for years, including in very funny Super Bowl commercials with, for example, Betty White, but also Liza and Aretha made an appearance, as did Joan Collins: it’s all about the “Diva” theme and not being yourself .

The ad was heavily criticized, with some calling for a boycott. Not only the gay lib movement of Spain responded, but also the Spanish minister for equality, Irene Montero, contributed. “I wonder who would think it a good idea to use homophobia as a business strategy,” she said on Twitter. “Our society is diverse and tolerant. Hopefully those who have the power to decide what we see and hear in advertisements and TV shows will learn that too.”

The incident came shortly after Spain was shocked by the fatal beating of a young gay man in an alleged homophobic attack. The murder sparked nationwide protests and was part of a series of homophobic attacks. The far-left party Podemos stressed: “In the face of a wave of LGBT phobia, including assaults and even murders, Snickers can think of no better idea than to create a trashy commercial that tells you that you are not yourself when you are effeminate”.

Note: In 2007, Snickers also had to remove the homophobic ad “Love Boat” from their website.

4. Charles Aznavour – Comme Ils Disent (France, 1972), 151.337 views, 88 comments, 97.7% like ratio (with almost 1,800 likes). This may seem like an odd one out, because it’s not directly about marketing. However, I have developed this formula from my research: Representation –> visibility –> normalization –> tolerance –> acceptance –> respect. Entertainment also plays a role in this journey: what Netflix now implicitly does with the vast majority of their products, Aznavour already did in 1972 with this song: giving alternatives to a regular family model a stage.

He was a brilliant and respected artist who sang in 9 languages ​​and recorded over 1,200 songs over a 70-year period. He amazed France with this realistic and emotional chanson about a window dresser who danced in the evenings as a transvestite in a nightclub. He sang about the relationship with his mother and his sad love life. “I was the first in France to write a song about homosexuality,” he later said. “I wanted to write about the specific problems my gay friends were dealing with. I could see that things were different for them, that they were being marginalized.”

The song has since become a classic, sung in English as “What Makes a Man a Man”, by artists such as Liza Minelli and Marc Almond. The impact of this chanson still reverberates, as witnessed by the visits to my channel.

5. Nike – You Can’t Stop Us (USA, 2020), 117,255 views, only 17 comments and 92.5% like ratio at 1,152 likes. This ad is really a brilliant piece of editing: putting together a split-screen with different sports images. It’s a beautiful expression of diversity, which won the Emmy for Outstanding Commercial in 2021.

The video was in response to BLM and the pandemic and wanted to convey a message of hope. “We are never alone, and that is our strength,” says the voiceover. “Because when we doubt, we will play as one. If we are stopped, we will go further and harder. If we are not taken seriously, we will prove that wrong. And if we do not fit a sport, we will change sports.” A man is shown on a skateboard with a torch that gives off the six-colored rainbow as smoke.

The clip achieved 632 million impressions within 24 hours, and already had 146 million views on the Chinese Douyin (a kind of TikTok) alone, 59 million on YouTube. In addition, he inspired almost half a million people to make such duo films.

Nike has a strong track record in Marketing the Rainbow, which started way back in 1995 with Ric Muñoz, HIV Runner. Read my article about Nike on my website.

Conclusion

The most viewed videos on my channel were often viewed well elsewhere too, but I got visitors for other reasons. Trolls who wanted to express their hatred because they could not do so at the brand itself, Americans who didn’t understand the Spanish-language story, a heavily criticized video that was quickly withdrawn by the brand but still widely covered in the media, a historic clip that is hard to find elsewhere, and a fine piece of film and editing work that won an Emmy.

Alfred Verhoeven is a marketer and is in the final phase of his PhD research Marketing the Rainbow. He previously wrote for ILOVEGAY about Matchmaking, From Representation To Respect, Cultural sensitivities and social involvement in marketing, 4 reasons to practice diversity and The Rules of Market Segmentation.