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“Luxu ry R ides fo r
Targeted
A U S West ad mailer aimed at the gay and lesbian
community draws complaints from a Portland lesbian
the Un-Narrow “
Go in style with the com fort o f
knowing your driver is
Gay too f!
Special Introductory Rates
▼
by Inga Sorensen
nnuendo, it appears, is in the eye of the
beholder.
“This is the first complaint I’ve heard
about this,” says Steve Fuchs, who works
for True North Advertising in New York
City.
Fuchs’ firm helped create an advertising mailer
for U S West Communications in a marketing
partnership project with Out magazine. The piece,
which targets gay men and lesbians, was recently
sent to an estimated 40,000 people nationwide. It
encourages consumers to choose U S West’s new
“Outrageous Calling Pak,” which includes a “Chat
ter Pak” featuring three-way calling for “three
people, three locations [and] three times the fun,”
and a “Privacy Pak” that includes caller identifi
cation and call rejection because, says the U S
West brochure, “your personal style is a private
one.”
Those who select a U S West “Outrageous”
package receive a “free subscription to a maga
zine with style.” In this case, Out, Wired or
Entertainment Weekly.
“Your Style Makes a Statement,” continues
the mailing. “Say Something with Your Phone
Service. After all, your
phone service is what
keeps you plugged
in — to frien d s,
your lover, your
family.”
N ow here in
the piece are the
words “gay” or
“ lesb ia n ” m en
tioned.
“We think it
was a very taste
ful cam p aig n ,”
says Fuchs. “It
was not designed
to offend anyone.”
Perhaps not, but it certainly got the ire up of
Portland resident Theresa Tucker, who is associ
ated with a handful of lesbian and gay-related
organizations, including Parents, Families and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force, and Portland’s Lesbian
Community Project.
“I got this in the mail and I was shocked,” says
Tucker. “The marketing is so insidious and subtle.
Nowhere do they mention ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ or
‘support’ or anything like that.
“At first I was concerned that a mega-corpora
tion like U S West had somehow learned of my
sexual orientation and had this information stored
somewhere,” she continues. “But then I thought
about it further. I decided it wouldn’t have both
ered me so much if they had just been honest about
what they were doing. If they had said: ‘U S West
supports the gay and lesbian community’ that
would have been OK. This was just so sleazy.”
Tucker says she was so upset by the mailing
that she contacted U S West to lodge a complaint.
“I was told by a U S West supervisor named Yaw
Uwusu that the gay and lesbian community had
not specifically been targeted,” she says. “He said
this mailing was also sent to members of the
‘Hispanic community’ even though there were no
Spanish words in it. He also said there was no
‘list’ that my name was on. Well, if I received a
mailing there obviously was a mailing list."
Tucker sent letters outlining her concerns to
the Portland Utilities Commission and the Gay
and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a me
dia watchdog group.
In addition to using words like “lover,” “style”
and “Privacy Pak,” the mailing includes photos of
six different types of telephones, including one
that is high tech, another which is ostentatiously
ornate, and one bound in leather.
“What we were trying to do is acknowledge
that there are many different styles that exist in the
gay community,” says U S West Communica
tions spokesman Dan Sherlock, who told Just Out
the gay and lesbian community had specifically
been targeted for this mailing.
He further says representatives from both U S
West and Out magazine reviewed—and ultimately
approved—the marketing piece before it was sent
to members of the public.
Out's advertising staff did confirm that they
approved the mailer, and say they have received no
negative responses. (One staffer even told us that
two people called to inquire about where they
could order one of those leather-bound phones,
which, by the way, were created specifically for
the campaign and are not for sale.)
Sherlock says he too has received positive
feedback from several people, including U S West
employees. “The only people who don’t seem to
like it are those who are right
wing,” he says.
“The whole point
of this campaign is
to sell calling pack
ages. Our research
has shown that gay
people spend more
dollars on average
than most callers for
a variety of services,
including long dis
tance, caller ID and
call waiting. We feel
we came up with a
very creative cam
paign,” says Fuchs.
As with many marketing campaigns, he says,
names of targeted recipients were taken from a
rented mailing list—lists that people may wind up
on if they, for example, are a member of an orga
nization, attend public events, or receive a sub
scription to a magazine, catalog or newspaper.
“It’s standard practice” says Fuchs, adding that
it’s unusual in this day and age to find someone
who isn't on such a list.
According to Sherlock, U S West began ag
gressively courting distinctive communities for
advertising purposes about a year ago. He says
senior citizens, Latino/as, college students, Afri
can Americans, Asian Americans and rural resi
dents have all been targeted.
“For example, if we’re testing the college mar
ket, we may offer Spin magazine, because that’s
the number one magazine for the college market,”
he says. “The gay and lesbian community is just
one group we’re targeting.”
Adds Fuchs: “Everyone seems pleased that we
have acknowledged the gay and lesbian commu
nity.”
“That perhaps bothers me the most,” says
Tucker. “I’ve told some friends about this and they
seem to think it’s ‘cool’ that we’re finally being
recognized as a potential market. But I don’t think
it’s ‘cool’ that an advertising campaign is targeting
our community for profit but can’t even address us
by name.”
She asks: “Are we so starved for attention that
we will accept exploitation for protit as a form of
social recognition, even when we are not socially
recognized by the profiteers?”
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Donald Falk
M illion D ollar Producer
Bridgetown Realty
(some restrictions may apply)
5 0 3
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( 503 ) 287-9370
( 503 ) 655-8015
2 4 6 * 9 6 4 6
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