How a homosexual anti-bullying PSA from the late 2000s grew to become a cult basic

As Pleasure Month kicked off this 12 months, Kai Cameron placed on varied wigs and outfits to recreate a industrial that he remembers vividly from the late 2000s.

The social media director posted a video on TikTok mimicking an advertisement in which actress Hilary Duff told shoppers to not use the phrase homosexual as an insult. one other actress within the industrial, Duff equated utilizing the time period within the pejorative to saying “That is so woman sporting a skirt as a high.” She ends the advert by asking if individuals imply to be hurtful and to “knock it off.”

“It lives hire free in my head,” Cameron advised CNBC in an interview.

Cameron has obtained almost half one million likes and tons of of feedback on the video as of press time. Viewers of Cameron’s reboot mentioned in feedback that Duff “ended homophobia” and “deserved a Nobel Peace Prize.” The unique industrial, they mentioned, “modified lives” and was “a second in historical past.”

If these feedback are any indication, Duff’s video has change into a cult basic for a technology that noticed the commercial on its favourite TV channels. It is etched so clearly into their minds, and with an ever-growing slate of references throughout media, it is earned a long-term spot within the cultural zeitgeist. Due to that, the advert can act as a hit story for advancing social points by means of media messaging. At a fraught second, almost 20 years later, supporters of the youth LGBTQ+ neighborhood surprise what will be carried out to reaffirm the marketing campaign’s unique message.

For LGBTQ+ viewers particularly, the 17-year-old phase holds a particular which means for its success in combating hate and its distinctive illustration on display screen. It’s thought of each humorous and over-the-top, whereas additionally spotlighting a pervasive subject in a memorable style.

“We caught lightning in a bottle,” mentioned Kevin Jennings, the founding father of youth LGBTQ+ advocacy group Homosexual, Lesbian & Straight Training Community (GLSEN), which spearheaded the marketing campaign. “There is no different means of placing it.”

On the time of the marketing campaign’s launch in 2008, social media was nonetheless nascent and linear TV reigned supreme. On this surroundings, GLSEN noticed a chance to form public discourse towards utilizing the phrase “that is so homosexual.”

The group launched what’s generally known as the “Suppose B4 You Communicate” marketing campaign. Past the 30-second advert with Duff, an identical spot featured comic Wanda Sykes likening utilizing the phrase “homosexual” negatively to having a “tacky” mustache. A print commercial blitz and particular web site additionally helped push the message.

The purpose: to push again on “ambient” anti-LGBTQ language, based on Jennings. Whereas many individuals on the time knew that some slurs have been hurtful, utilizing phrases like “homosexual” as an insult hadn’t but gotten the identical remedy, he mentioned.

Jennings remembers considering GLSEN had an equation for fulfillment. Duff was excessive up on the group’s record of dream faces for the message given her roles in well-known youth media just like the TV present “Lizzie McGuire” and film “A Cinderella Story.”

GLSEN additionally had the assist of the Promoting Council, the group behind iconic social consciousness campaigns equivalent to Smokey Bear and Buddies Do not Let Buddies Drive Drunk. The marketing campaign marked the council’s first-ever advertisements targeted on social points associated to the LGBTQ+ neighborhood.

“If we pull this off, we will make historical past,” Jennings recalled considering. “And we did.”

As a result of the Advert Council depends on donated area for its work, Jennings nervous that broadcasters would draw back from the marketing campaign attributable to its deal with the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. However he mentioned Duff’s spot particularly shortly obtained optimistic suggestions, which inspired firms to maneuver it from unpopular hours to primetime.

Duff’s advert additionally obtained a lift on social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube, which on the time had solely been round for a couple of years. Now, he views it as one of many first items of media to “go viral” through social platforms.

“In the event you’d requested me that day: ‘Kevin, do you suppose we’d nonetheless be speaking about these advertisements 20 years later?,’ I might have mentioned, ‘Nicely, in my wildest goals,'” Jennings mentioned. “It seems my wildest dream got here true.”

Knowledge reveals that the advertisements made inroads on curbing the time period’s use. GLSEN’s 2021 faculty local weather survey discovered 68% of survey takers heard “that is so homosexual” both regularly or usually, down from greater than 90% 20 years earlier.

The marketing campaign additionally led to a slide in bullying charges and an uptick in Homosexual-Straight Alliance participation, based on Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, the present govt director of GLSEN.

Moreover, there’s anecdotal indicators of success. Even earlier than he publicly recognized as LGBTQ+, Derrick Winrow II remembers attempting to emulate Duff by calling out classmates who used the phrase homosexual as an insult for a couple of week.

“I believe I used to be too anxious to proceed doing it, however the message stayed with me ever since,” the 31-year-old artist mentioned. “It was much more impactful than I believed it was going to be.”

Within the almost 20 years because it first aired, Duff’s advert has raked up a number of nods in media and tradition.

Sabrina Carpenter, a singer and fellow Disney Channel alum, jokingly quoted Duff throughout her Netflix Christmas special that aired late final 12 months. Comic Ziwe additionally asked a guest on her namesake present in regards to the advert in a 2022 episode.

Bratz final 12 months recreated the spot utilizing its dolls within the likeness of Duff and the opposite actresses. Etsy sellers hawk apparel citing Duff and the advert.

The hosts of the Nogorge podcast discussed utilizing the phrase “homosexual” in an episode final month. They questioned if it might be reclaimed in the identical means marginalized teams have taken again comparable phrases that have been as soon as used offensively.

Video recreations like Cameron’s seem throughout in style platforms equivalent to TikTok and Instagram. Duff herself even obtained in on the development, dropping a video of her lip syncing the original advert three years in the past.

“It is burned into your thoughts,” mentioned Carli De Ville, an Austin, Texas-based intercourse therapist who mentioned the advert in a TikTok video. “To have activism blended with camp, I believe, is what made it so iconic.”

Duff’s advert struck a chord with extra than simply LGBTQ+-identifying viewers who felt validated by its affirming message. Yasmine Sahid, a social media content material creator, mentioned in a caption of her personal iteration of the clip that the unique video “made me an ally” to the LGBTQ+ neighborhood.

“If Hilary Duff says that it is mistaken to make use of the phrase homosexual in a derogatory method, then who am I to make use of the phrase that means?” mentioned Sahid, who just lately made her TV debut in Amazon Prime’s “Overcompensating.”

Viewers and consultants alike agree that it might be exhausting to make an advert with the identical stage of visibility at the moment given the fragmented media panorama. Greater than a decade and a half because the marketing campaign, advocates for LGBTQ+ illustration in media see each purpose for celebration and a necessity for additional efforts.

“Proper now, there’s some actually good illustration throughout the LGBTQ neighborhood,” mentioned Joanna Schwartz, a Georgia School & State College professor who teaches a category on LGBTQ+ advertising. “However in 2007, it wasn’t actually there.”

As an illustration, optimistic illustration in movie tracked by advocacy group GLAAD has skyrocketed over the previous decade. Nonetheless, Schwartz mentioned subgroups like transgender individuals have not seen the identical features that the broader neighborhood has.

The LGBTQ+ neighborhood can be principally unrepresented in promoting, based on GLAAD information from 2023, which is the newest data made publicly out there. Of the greater than 400 advertisements on nationwide linear TV from the ten largest businesses, GLAAD found LGBTQ+ individuals have been featured in solely 3% and accounted for lower than 2% of display screen time.

For youth LGBTQ+ advocates, they’re involved a couple of resurgence of bullying and the flexibility of educated assist suppliers to fight it. GLSEN laid off 60% of staff earlier this 12 months, with Willingham-Jaggers citing funding pressures after firms reduce donations for LGBTQ+-related teams amid right-wing pressure.

Jennings, who labored on anti-bullying initiatives within the Obama administration and now runs LGBTQ+ rights group Lambda Authorized, highlighted the “Don’t Say Gay” bills passing state legislatures as proof of progress receding. Any such laws, he mentioned, contradicts the marketing campaign’s unique purpose of elevating consciousness and inspiring inclusivity amongst youth.

“What we discovered by means of this marketing campaign and thru the Obama years was that if we put the time and assets into it, we will make a distinction,” Jennings mentioned. “What we’re studying proper now’s that that distinction will be reversed — and that breaks my coronary heart.”