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Constructing the Dream Consumer The Evolution of the Gay Market John Edward Campbell Annenberg School for Communication University of Pennsylvania The Emergence of the Gay Market Introduction The Emergence of the Gay Market Introduction Will discuss the genesis of the “gay market” as well as the construction of the gay male “dream consumer” The role of surveillance in segmenting this marketing and the fragmenting of this market into evermore specific consumer identities This segmentation is apparent in the newly formed gay male “bear” market. Targeting the Closet: Surveillance and the Emergence of Gay Marketing A shift in the industry from mass marketing and homogenous advertising to niche marketing and individualized advertising. Peppers and Rogers (1997) assert that “some customers are simply more valuable than others” (p. 32) and corporations can increase profits by “treating different customers differently” (p. 53.) Jon Goss (1995) observes that target marketing was “not practicable on a large scale until the 1970s, when theoretical, technological, and institutional innovations permitted the accumulation and management of electronic databases on consumer behavior” (p. 173). Targeting the Closet: Surveillance and the Emergence of Gay Marketing Gay marketing has a recent history. Reg Whitaker (1999) gay marketing “could only happen once gays and lesbians began to come out of the closet and selfconscious gay and lesbian lifestyles and cultures began to appear in a fashion clearly visible to the straight world” (p. 148). The history of gay marketing more complex than Whitaker suggests. Targeting the Closet: Surveillance and the Emergence of Gay Marketing The gay media can trace its roots back to a lesbian bar in Los Angeles in 1947 with the distribution of Vice Versa, the first underground gay newspaper. In the 1980s, a group of aspiring gay publications began working with gay marketing firms to entice major advertisers to court the “gay market.” In 1988, Simmons Market Research Bureau conducted first marketing survey of gay consumers, reporting an average per capita income of $36,800 and a significantly larger proportion of gays and lesbians holding professional positions. Targeting the Closet: Surveillance and the Emergence of Gay Marketing In 1990, Overlooked Opinions conducts survey by mailing out questionnaires to those reading gay publications. Based on 1,357 responses, Overlooked Opinions determined that 34% of gay households had incomes over $50,000. Using the classic one-in-ten gay/straight ratio extrapolated from Alfred Kinsey’s work, they estimated the wealth of the gay community to be $514 billion annually. Compounding this is the stereotypical image of gay households as DINKS (Double Income, No Kids). Targeting the Closet: Surveillance and the Emergence of Gay Marketing Hazel Kahan and David Mulryan (1995) argue that “because these consumers are disenfrachised from mainstream society, they are open to overtures from marketers” (p. 40). Image of gay affluence has proven politically damaging. In Colorado in 1992, champions of antigay ballot initiative Amendment 2 used the Overlooked Opinions survey findings to fuel hatred of gays and lesbians (Hardistry and Gluckman, 1997) Targeting the Closet: Surveillance and the Emergence of Gay Marketing By the mid-1990s, this construct of the “gay market” was in place and the race was on to court these economically affluent but politically impotent “dream consumers.” Major corporations start sponsoring gay social events like the 1994 Gay Games in New York City. The explosion of corporate advertising in gay lifestyle publications fosters the production of several new upscale “glossy” magazines, like Out and Genre. Targeting the Closet: Surveillance and the Emergence of Gay Marketing Flaw in the logic of target marketing: the reduction of people to a singular axis of identity By doing such, this marketing practice calls into existence the very thing it sets out to find. Katherine Sender (2004): “the gay community, on a national scale at least, is not a preexisting entity that marketers simply need to appeal to, but is a construction, an imagined community formed not only through political activism but through an increasingly sophisticated, commercial supported, national media” (p. 5). Targeting the Closet: Surveillance and the Emergence of Gay Marketing Alexandra Chasin (2000): “[T]he national U.S. gay community came into being through the imagined comradeship of gay men and lesbians reading an increasingly commercial gay press. In that press, gay men and lesbians read for news of the growth of the movement, they read for news of consumption opportunities that reinforced their belonging in the community, and they read vernacular language that helped delineate the boundaries of the community” (p. 92). Today this gay media is undergoing significant consolidation in ownership. Dream Consumer in Cyberspace: PlanetOut.com and Gay.com These two online portals primarily speak to their patrons through advertisements, whether those ads are for their own services (e.g. personal ads) or Fortune 500 corporations. Dream Consumer in Cyberspace: PlanetOut.com and Gay.com z Two-month analysis of 360 ads on Gay.com and 180 ads on PlanetOut.com z The majority of ads were explicitly oriented to gay and/or lesbian consumers z A smaller percentage of ads (approximately 25%) had no reference to sexual identity Dream Consumer in Cyberspace: PlanetOut.com and Gay.com Lowell Selvin (2005): “Smart corporations, smart ad agencies, smart moviemakers and smart TV producers know” that the most successful ads are “tailored to the gay and lesbians audience” (p. B1). Ads used an imaginary composed primarily of men who are both white and young. Dream Consumer in Cyberspace: PlanetOut.com and Gay.com Dream Consumer in Cyberspace: PlanetOut.com and Gay.com z PlanetOut Inc. perpetuates the essentialized image of gays as prosperous “dream consumers” z PlanetOut Inc. constructs a demographic profile of members reinforcing this image: 29% are 18 to 24 years old, 37% have annual incomes over $50K, 85% are male Dream Consumer in Cyberspace: PlanetOut.com and Gay.com In their Sales Kit, PlanetOut Inc. proclaim their ability to surveil, segment, and target gay consumers The personal information patrons disclose plays a vital role in their “conversion” from member to paying customer Constructing the Bear Consumer: Segmenting the Gay Market The “bear” phenomenon started as a social movement in Northern California in the 1980s and profilerated across North America and Western Europe through the Internet during the 1990s. The movement started when a group of men would not conform to the beauty ideals of the gay male mainstream. Constructing the Bear Consumer: Segmenting the Gay Market The “bear” subculture spread primarily through the Internet and such online sites as Bear411.com, BigMuscleBears.com, and BearWWW.com. Annual social events – “bear runs” – soon organized in most major American cities. Largest events attract thousands of gay men from across the country and the world. Constructing the Bear Consumer: Segmenting the Gay Market Constructing the Bear Consumer: Segmenting the Gay Market Concluding Thoughts As evident in the emergence of the gay male “bear” market, sexuality intersects not only with race, gender, and class, but also with body type in formulating identity. Critics are concerned as to the impact of this market segmentation on the political organizing of marginalized communities.