23 June, 2016

How Subarus Came to Be Seen as Cars for Lesbians - The Atlantic

How Subarus Came to Be Seen as Cars for Lesbians - The Atlantic: "For its first Subaru ads, Mulryan/Nash hired women to portray lesbian couples. But the ads didn’t get good reactions from lesbian audiences. What worked were winks and nudges. One campaign showed Subaru cars that had license plates that said “Xena LVR” (a reference to Xena: Warrior Princess, a TV show whose female protagonists seemed to be lovers) or “P-TOWN” (a moniker for Provincetown, Massachusetts, a popular LGBT vacation spot). Many ads had taglines with double meanings. “Get Out. And Stay Out” could refer to exploring the outdoors in a Subaru—or coming out as gay. “It's Not a Choice. It's the Way We're Built” could refer to all Subarus coming with all-wheel-drive—or LGBT identity. “Each year we've done this, we've learned more about our target audience,” John Nash, the creative director of the ad agency told the website AdRespect. “We've found that playful coding is really, really appreciated by our consumers. They like deciphering it.”

"



'via Blog this'