Minola Premium Coconut Oil has marked LGBT relationships.
In an ad released in time for Valentine’s Day this 2017, the relationship of a gay couple was shown as a celebration of “all kinds of love.”
The ad shows a man who, while heading home, sees various heterosexual couples celebrating their love. Playing is a music saying “It’s you I’m thinking of. Ain’t misbehaving. Saving all my love for you.”
Upon reaching home, he is served a meal by – surprise – his gay partner.
In its Facebook page, Minola stated that “loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity… (are) traits so easily kept when one is truly in love.”
According to Michael David dela Cruz Tan, editor of Outrage Magazine, the only LGBT publication in the Philippines, “this is a refreshing move from a somewhat unexpected source. While other (particularly Western) countries have long included LGBT representation in ads, these remain rare in the Philippines, and representations have been criticized for being stereotypical (e.g. PLDT’s ‘Joey’ series). We can only hope for this to become the norm, as our relationships (among others) become accepted as no different from others – formed and kept by love and respect for those involved in the relationships.”
Perhaps more prominently, in 2000, the Philippine Advertising Congress already highlighted the pink market. But even earlier than that, in July 1991, the concept of the pink currency was already noted by the conservative Wall Street Journal, which referred to the gay and lesbian community as a “dream market”, estimated to be worth over $610 billion in 2005 alone.
This market remains largely untapped in the Philippines.
With the ad, Minola joins the likes of Smart and even the infamous Bench in showing LGBT living in the Philippines.
