Struggling to get any customer recall from your advertising? Well, if the recent “Yes” vote proved anything (successful marriage equality aside) then there’s a lot to be learned from ads featuring a positive gay and lesbian message.

And now a new study by US gay social network site Hornet and Nielsen has found that consumers are increasingly comfortable with advertising that carries a LGTBQ message.

 

The study interviewed 800 (presumably straight) consumers on their views of rainbow-themed ads. The top highlights of the study included:

• 62 per cent of respondents could correctly recall the advertised brand in LGBTQ-themed TVCs.
• 75 per cent of the tested LGBTQ-themed ads outperformed generic ads in driving brand recall.
• 66 per cent regarded LGBTQ ads as progressive against 56 per cent for generic ads.
• 65 per cent regarded the ads as inclusive versus 55 per cent for generic ads.
• 61 per cent regarded the ads as caring versus 52 per cent for generic ads.
• When asked which words best described LGBTQ ads respondents voted for interesting (36 per cent), stand out from other ads (35 per cent), believable (34 per cent), forced (nine per cent) and intrusive (seven per cent).

Commenting on the findings, Hornet president and co-founder Sean Howell told US industry site AdWeek: “With this study, we hope to help brands improve their marketing and advertising as it relates to the LGBTQ community, a highly desirable consumer demographic.