Kellogg's #MyPerfectBowl (2017)

Kellogg's launched their #MyPerfectBowl ad campaign in 2017. Chris Hall (42) and Mark Hearfield (59), who had then been together 22 years, were selected to feature in one of the eight short TV spots. Hearfield told their local newspaper, the Bury Times:

"When we heard about the opportunity to be in the advert, we were both really excited. We wanted to be part of the conversation and thought it would be really fun to do a film shoot in our home. We can't wait to see it on the television, Chris can't sleep he's that excited. It was so much fun to be involved and we love the pictures that were shot for the campaign. At the end of the day, it's not every day you get to be in a Kellogg's advert."

 A spokesperson for Kellogg's said, "We have seen a change in how people are eating cereal but also in what they are having for breakfast and we wanted to capture how our customers are eating cornflakes."

Although the move was given widespread positive coverage in the LGBT+ press, their mainstream counterparts scarcely commented on it.

You can watch the full ad below:

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Charlie Chaplin

Behind the Screen is a 1916 Mutual Film Corporation comedy short, starring Charlie Chaplin and interesting for its early display of the 'sissy' stereotype. Chaplin plays a stagehand (David) who, along with coworker Eric Campbell (Goliath), finds himself overworked when the rest of the stagehands go on strike. Edna Purviance plays a struggling actress who disguises herself as a boy in order to get work as a stagehand.

Of course, Chaplin uncovers the ruse and wastes no time getting to better know the girl, who is still dressed as a boy... When Goliath catches them kissing he puts on an overtly effeminate act to make fun of them - until Chaplin gives him a kick!

It's a simple miscommunication joke that's as old as time, but it's unusual to see it played out overtly on camera at this time period.

Watch the whole thing on YouTube HERE, or enjoy the story in gif format:

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YOPA Moving On - 2016

YOPA online estate agents worked with gay icons The Village People on their 2016 Publicis Groupe advertising campaign in 2016. The three TV adverts revealed that the band had been stuck in a rut, in a suburban British house, and needed help to move on. Luckily a quick call to YOPA was able to set the move in motion!

(Harry Potter geeks may also be interested to know that the YOPA estate agent in the second ad is played by Christian Coulson - the young Tom Riddle in Chamber of Secrets.)

You can watch the full adverts below:







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LGBT+ TV Adverts

I've been writing a series of posts on LGBT+ themes in UK sitcoms over on Tumblr - read more HERE - and as an offshoot I started looking at TV advertising. This will serve as a master post for write ups on individual adverts.

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☆ 1995. When news of a male/male kiss in a Guinness ad hit the tabloid press the backlash was so strong that the brand chose not to air it. Read more HERE.

☆ 1995. Levi's cast fashion designer Zaldy in drag in an ad for their 501s.

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☆ 1996. Boisvert Lingerie featured a lesbian kiss in a post-watershed TV spot asking whether men deserved their product.

☆ 1996. Ford spoofed Levi's controversial 1995 ad in a spot for Ford Escort starring Lily Savage.

☆ 1996. Lynx Jealousy.

☆ 1996. Virgin Vodka aired the first male/male kiss in a UK advert on MTV.

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☆ 1997. Polaroid.

☆ 1997. Robinson's Juice.

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☆ 1998. IKEA's 'Stop Being So English' campaign encouraged Brits to loosen up and become more like the liberal Swedes.

☆ 1998. Impulse bodyspray's 'Chance Encounter' campaign featured the first overtly gay male couple in UK television advertising.

☆ 1998. Rubberstuffers condoms.

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☆ 1999. Heineken.

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☆ 2002. Archers' 'Barry's Birthday' and 'Train' adverts for Archers Aqua featured a drag queen and her male go-go dancers.

☆ 2002. BT 'Moving In Together'.

☆ 2002. Virgin Mobile's 'Careful What You Sign' campaign attracted complaints for a prison rape joke.

☆ 2002. WKD. Locker Room.

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☆ 2003. Marmite attracted 71 complaints with their ad featuring a prolonged same sex kiss of life. Read more HERE.

☆ 2003. Travelocity.

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☆ 2004. Alpen.

☆ 2004. Daz.

☆ 2004. Dr. Pepper's 'What's The Worst That Could Happen?' campaign featured a hapless prom date and a dad who liked wrestling...

☆ 2004. Irn Bru.

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☆ 2006. Maltesers had two women rearrange their sleeping boyfriends into each other's arms to advertise the fact that the brand was 'the lighter way to enjoy chocolate'.

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☆ 2007. Silverjet.

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☆ 2008. An advert for Heinz Deli Mayo featured a same sex kiss - the company withdrew it after receiving over 200 complaints in six days. Read more HERE.

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☆ 2012. Barclays became the first UK bank to feature a same sex couple in a TV commercial with their ad for personalised debit cards. Read more HERE.

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☆ 2013. Coca Cola's 'Reasons To Believe' campaign included a gay marriage scene in the UK version.

☆ 2013. NatWest bank ran a super sweet ad featuring twin sisters - one who loved her husband Jeff, and the other who loved her girlfriend Kate. There was no fanfare surrounding it, and little mainstream media coverage. Read more HERE.

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☆ 2015. Android: And Proud was an animated TV spot celebrating LGBT+ Pride and featuring a same-sex kiss.

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☆ 2016. BBC One's Christmas advert included two men sharing a kiss under the mistletoe.

☆ 2016. Lloyds bank featured a same sex proposal in their 'Your Next Step' advert, launched in March. Read more HERE.

☆ 2016. Match.com's 'Love Your Imperfections' campaign has racked up over 1200 complaints since 2016 for its inclusion of an amorous lesbian couple.

☆ 2016. Moneysupermarket.com's Dave and Colin #epicdanceoff ad received complaints for depicting a possible homosexual couple.

☆ 2016. Sainsbury's Christmas campaign, 'The Greatest Gift', featured a same-sex couple and their child.

☆ 2016. Thomas Cook launched a 'bold and contemporary' ad in time for Christmas featuring a same sex kiss and a family with two dads. Read more HERE.

☆ 2016. YOPA online estate agents ran a series of three lighthearted adverts starring The Village People.

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☆ 2017. Heineken included two same-sex couples in their 'cocktail' ad for non-alcoholic drinks.

☆ 2017. Kellogg's #MyPerfectBowl campaign included a gay couple talking about how they like to eat their cornflakes.

☆ 2017. McCain's 'We Are Family' campaign featured a gay couple and their baby son who quickly became the object of online abuse.

☆ 2017. O2's 'Oops' campaign featured a brief kiss between two young men - and generated 125 complaints to the ASA in the process. Read more HERE.

☆ 2017. Sainsbury's #everybitofchristmas campaign featured a gay couple and their daughter.

☆ 2017. Tesco's 'Turkey, Every Which Way' campaign courted controversy - but not for its inclusion of a gay couple and their baby.

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☆ 2018. McCain's 'Here's To Love' spot featured a same sex couple.

☆ 2018. HSBC UK's 'Connected Money' ad talks about the banks of mum and dad, dad and dad, and mum and mum...

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Cute Stuff My Kid Believes

☆ Cinderella is called ‘Maryelle’. I don’t know why.

☆ The stars are shiny because they’re where princesses and unicorns live, with their sparkly ball gowns and sparklier magic dust.

☆ We can’t turn the lights on in her room after she goes to bed because it will wake up Baby Samabelle, the doll, and Red Rum, the rocking horse.

☆ Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' is the pinnacle of human musical achievement. Other singers who are also secretly Swifty - because YouTube's play similar feature makes life easier - include Meghan Trainor, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, and Justin Bieber.

☆ Lack of size perceptions means she thinks she can wear Barbie’s shoes if she just keeps trying to get them on.

☆ Batgirl has two dads (Jim Gordon and Chief O’Hara) and both of them would be very upset if Batgirl didn’t clean her teeth and put her blocks away. (Trying to be like Batgirl is a full time occupation - she has a cape and everything.)

☆ All of her many many masterpieces depict Spiderman after the school of crayon scrawl. Including the ones all over my work agendas.

Kids, man.

Kids.

The Smoking Room

http://babiafi.tumblr.com/post/157486618143/robin-comes-out-in-the-final-episode-significant

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Friday Frivolity - Dogs

Take a look at some of these lovely retro canine companions. :D

Happy Valentine's Day!

Political satire and tickets to a lecture about an historical serial killer. Anthony knows me so well!

I hope you've all had a great Valentine's Day! ♡

Law and Order in the UK

A while ago now I did a series of posts on 'the fic writer's guide to Britain'. I always intended to write one on policing, and law and order more generally, and now seems as good a time as any to finally get around to it! I'll mostly use media examples, and supplement with how things work in the Met (Metropolitan Police Service, second only to the NYPD in terms of size) and my local force, Gwent Police / Heddlu Gwent, which has around 1,350 sworn members.

Mention is made of Scotland and Northern Ireland, but they have seperate systems so unless I say otherwise I'm referring exclusively to England and Wales.

Ford Escort - Jeans - 1996

In a spoof of the controversial 1995 Levi's advert featuring a glamorous drag queen confusing a lecherous cab driver, Ford cast well known British drag queen and TV personality Lily Savage (Paul O'Grady) in their 1996 advert for the new Ford Escort.

Ogilvy & Mather were the agency behind the 30 second spot; it was written by Mick French and directed by Paul Gay and Steve Reeves through Blink Productions. It was aired on ITV and Channel 4, but only after 9pm.

Leon Jaume, O&M’s creative director on Ford, said: 'This ad demonstrates the flexibility of the campaign - we have used real people in all the ads so far - and Lily Savage is no exception. But we’re going to branch out into celebrity ads.'

You can watch the full advert below:






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Friday Frivolity - Valentine's Day

It's almost Valentine's Day - and I'm completely unprepared! Not only have I not even bought a card for Anthony, it's also my mum's birthday on the 14th and I haven't sorted out anything for that yet either. I'm still catching up on comments from last week too, along with a bunch of other stuff. I need to spring clean my organisation skills!

Anyway, enjoy these cute retro cards as we gear up for the festival of lurve. :D




Finally, here's the most perfect for Marianna. She is obsessed with Batgirl and insists on taking her doll everywhere. Seriously, that doll has a better social life than I do!

Shipping Ask Challenge

I kept seeing this fandom shipping challenge doing the rounds on Tumblr, so of course I had to give it a go!

(If you're not up on the fandom lingo, check out the brief history post I did for last year's International Fanworks Day.)

IKEA - Stop Being So English

IKEA first arrived in the UK in 1987, and in 1996 ran an ad campaign encouraging the nation to 'Chuck Out Your Chintz'. This was followed up with a campaign designed by St. Luke's, advising Brits to 'Stop Being So English'.

This spot, which first aired in 1998, had a middle class couple moving away from their mock Edwardian decor and becoming much happier as a result.

You can watch the full advert below:






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What I'm Listening To

☆ February 2018.
☆ April 2018.

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Virgin Vodka - Edge Bar - 1996

Virgin pushed the boundaries with this 1996 TV advert for Virgin Vodka, created by Arcadia Productions.

This was the first UK advert to feature two men kissing and, knowing how difficult it would be to get BACC (British Advertising Clearance Centre) approval for major channels - they had received applications for two ads featuring gay couples and turned down the one that came under their jurisdiction - Virgin opted to air the ad on MTV for three months starting in March 1996.

They hoped to later get BACC agreement to air the ad on late night Channel 4.

The ad itself was 30 seconds of documentary footage from The Edge, a busy gay friendly bar which had been operating in London's Soho since November 1994. Jackie McQuillan, PR manager for Virgin, said:

"It is targeted at the 18-to-35-year-old market where the pink pound is very strong. We'd be mad to ignore it. This is a way of opening up more realistic advertising. If that means showing gay couples than I hope that's the case."

The press reported at the time that Research for Marketing by CIA MediaLab revealed 41% of 25-to-34 year-olds would be put off a brand if its ads showed a gay couple kissing.

You can watch the full advert below:






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Friday Frivolity - Groundhog Day

This week we're talking about Groundhog Day! Supposedly the behaviour of a groundhog on February 2nd will predict the weather over the coming weeks. If it's cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow, spring will come early. If it's sunny, the groundhog will hightail it back into its burrow - naturally terrified of its own shadow - and winter will reign supreme for another six weeks.

To my shame, it's only relatively recently that I realised groundhogs actually exist and are not just a feature in a film starring Bill Murray! Still, it is a very good film.


Did you do anything for Groundhog Day? And have you ever thought something only existed in a movie? :)

Jessica is an amazingly funny and smart blogger from Wales who writes on a whole range of topics -- from entertaining vintage nostalgia, to technology tutorials, to book reviews, to raising her adorable munchkin, and so much more! This week she's sharing the Ballad of Roly Bear.

You can also find her on Bloglovin', Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Sarah Eliza is on a mission to Devastate Boredom by living life with laughter and intention! Her blog is your spot for Capsule Wardrobe how-to's and inspiration, humor, encouragement, life-hacks, Read / DON'T Read book reviews, and more! Check out her Winter Plus Sized Capsule Wardrobe.

You can also find Sarah on Bloglovin', Facebook, Google +, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Audrey is an awesome, eclectic blogger, who not only can cook up a storm over on That Recipe, but also writes at Munofore - "MUsings NOt FOod RElated." Munofore touches on humor, parenting, crafting, holiday ideas, tutorials, and more! This week she's writing about the 52 Weeks to a Better Blog challenge.

You can also find Audrey at Facebook, Google +, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Lisa is an awesomely hilarious and wonderfully authentic writer who marches to her own drum on her blog Syncopated Mama, providing an "un-labelly spot" for all the happily off-beat folks out there who have been wishing to find kindred spirits. She shares her adventures building a natural home, teaching her adorbs daughter, establishing and refining positive communication skills, camping, creating, cooking, and so much more! Check out her post on Herding Cats - how to read to toddlers who won't sit still.

You can also find Lisa at Bloglovin', Facebook, Google +, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Calling all bloggers looking for an upbeat and supportive group of pals to join in hosting the weekly #FridayFrivolity par-tay! We are hoping to add to our ranks of dedicated hosts and co-hosts, and would love for you to consider joining the fun! Co-Hosts are welcome on a temporary basis (usually a month), while Hosts make a more ongoing commitment. :) Swing by HERE to express interest and ask any questions!

Featured Post from Last Week: In a fun twist, since we now have four hosts we will also have FOUR FEATURES.... but you will have to go check out the other three blogs to see if you were featured there! ;)
Pebble Portrait from Shelbee on the Edge - how cool is this!? Such a sweet idea.

Now time for the new stuff! 

This a link-up for all things funny, fun, encouraging, hopeful, and happy. That includes free printables, giveaways, and other fun stuff to make us SMILE and start the weekend off on the right foot.

If you're here in search of fun and uplifting reading materials, skip the rules and just start clickin'! 

Bloggy buddies, thanks for coming to par-tay! You are welcome to link up to three posts, and old posts are always welcome!

There are three rules only:

An InLinkz Link-up

If you want to let others know about the linky, feel free to grab the badge!

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