Facebook Israel to host gay representation in ads event

Gay pride. Photo: PR
Gay pride. Photo: PR

The conference aims to discuss and promote the representation of the LGBT community in Israeli advertising.

Facebook Israel and the Tel Aviv Municipality are launching a conference, the first of its kind, in a week and a half, entitled “Coming out to advertising.” The idea is to explain the importance of integrating gay actors in advertising.

“When is the last time you saw two dads and their daughter in a commercial? A lesbian couple sitting down to a Friday night dinner alongside that brand that you think of as the most Israeli? A soldier waiting for his boyfriend in a commercial for mobile?,” asks Facebook Israel VP Elad Brindt Shavit, who is among the organizers of the event. “You see global brands, like Coca Cola, Proctor and Gamble, Starbucks, and others, that understand that representing the gay community in ads works, and that equal representation sells.”

The event, which will be held at Facebook Israel headquarters in Tel Aviv on June 7, during Gay Pride Week, is being held in cooperation with the Tel Aviv Municipality, with the participation of Facebook Israel CEO Adi Soffer Teeni, advisor to the Tel Aviv Mayor on LGBT issues Yaniv Waizman, advertising firm Baumann Ber Rivnay CEO Yossi Lubaton, El Al CMO Einat Yanai, and others. It’s not yet clear whether Baumann Ber Rivnay or El Al will jump on board and begin including representatives from the gay community in their ads, or whether they are only participating in support of the idea.

The surprising part of the conference is the joint participation of both Facebook and Google - both business and technological rivals - when Brindt Shavit participates in a panel together with Google Israel and Greece Marketing Manager Alon Chen.

Facebook has stated that the conference is not intended to advance marketing tools on the social network, but rather to promote the idea that it’s important to include gay couples in ads, be it in television, online, or in print.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 27, 2015

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015

Gay pride. Photo: PR
Gay pride. Photo: PR
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