Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Opinion

Michael Rizzo

BMW: "Hard top. Firm bottom. It's so L.A."

Travelocity: "It shouldn't take highly developed gaydar to figure out which hotels are for you."

42 Below Vodka: "Drink it straight. Or gay."

If you recognize these pitches, it's because you've perused gay media. The tactic of these marketers is called niche advertising, and it's very lucrative.

High-profile national advertisers establish symbiotic relationships with producers of niche media publications and (in this case) the product is a capitalistically rationalized version of gay-for-pay.


Selling "gay" to gays

Troy May, 43, owns one such gay-niche publication - ON magazine, headquartered on the Alameda. He bought it two years ago after spending 13 years in newsrooms throughout the country covering health care, business, banking, the environment and real estate.

Troy told me he tries to publish material relevant to both genders of the Bay Area gay community, or at least maintain an equal distribution of gender-specific content. ON is free, but marketing to both genders in one publication is easier said than done.

"When I put a woman on the cover," he said, "the magazine doesn't move."

More than 65 percent of his demographic is male, so even the prettiest cover girl doesn't attract enough lesbians or straight guys to make up for the gay guys who won't be taking one. It's a common problem with gay publications. And advertisers notice.

"They want to go after the gay male," Troy said. "I encourage them to make it look diverse; then I get an ad back that has a Latin guy or a black guy, instead of a woman."


Gay by association

In December 2007, Larry and Tom were the featured intimate partners for the lead story in Genre, a monthly gay pop culture magazine.

Well, kind of. Those names were randomly plastered next to a photo spread of two shirtless hotties who, presumably, had achieved the more-than-difficult task of "staying together forever." Turns out,

Larry's real name is Julian Fantechi, a former Playgirl model - and he's straight.

Tsk, tsk, Genre.

Not that getting cover boys for a gay magazine is easy. Troy's even had gay models turn him down.

"They didn't want people to know they were gay," he said. "But we've never had a straight man say, 'No.'"

For the sake of journalistic integrity, Troy hires only gay models now, causing some of the straights to claim the magazine has started discriminating.

"And we are," he said. "But my argument is, you wouldn't have a black magazine with a white model on the cover."


Good sell

Credit to the marketing expert upon whom it one day dawned that we gays were an undiscovered cash crop. Because what do you get when two men or women with college educations and no dependents merge their finances? A stockpile of disposable income.

The gay community now contributes so significantly to the national economy that we've got companies like Anheuser-Busch and Nissan devoting entire staffs to tapping our demographic - because going after the gay wallet is worth it.

Community Marketing Inc.'s Gay and Lesbian Consumer Index 2007:

- Advertising in LGBT media influences the decisions of 89 percent of gay men and 85 percent of lesbians to purchase products or do business with a company.

- 88 percent of gay men and 91 percent of lesbians are more likely to support companies that sponsor LGBT events and fundraisers.

The survey collected more than 26,000 responses from members of the queer community nationwide known to be consumers of gay media publications.


Cheap and clean

"There's nothing wrong with a little sex appeal," Troy said. "But no buttocks. No underwear. Sometimes a bathing suit. That's about it."

Unlike some of his national advertisers, Troy's not selling gay sex. That would be prostitution.

He told me he's even passed up business from some telephone hookup companies and online chat sites because ads were too erotic.

"When I bought the magazine," Troy said, "my goal was to have a nice, clean magazine that anyone could respect and show to their parents."

Even Troy's mom is a subscriber.

*Past columns:
Boys who hit boys
The choir preaching back
Aunt Sam's Log Cabin
Bad blood
Out of the loop

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools