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Rainbow diversity in TV commercials.

The Dutch had a world premiere in 1992 when insurer AMEV understood “that not everyone is the same”. In a TV commercial for life insurance (at the height of the AIDS epidemic, mind you!) they casually showed two gay couples and a lesbian couple. That was 32 years ago, but it is characteristic of the Netherlands. That video shows a whole series of people who want to take care of each other. And then – casually – those three rainbow couples also pass by.

Casually

And that casualness is typically Dutch, in advertising. Not: “look at us being diverse” (for example, by only showing two fierce ladies), or “we have checked off the mandatory list of diversity” (as I think happens in the McCain commercial “Here’s To Love” from 2018). But simply, as if nothing is wrong, showing a reflection of the diversity in society. Brownie points.

Casualness also takes a bit of the wind out of the sails of the Woke Mafia (see my article “Get woke, go broke”), so you risk fewer negative reactions or even calls for a boycott. The latter happens all the time in the US, usually driven by Fox et al. and the cruel conservatives of One Million Moms. The most recent incident was with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney for AB Inbev.

Forbidden

But in the Netherlands things are not going that fast, on the contrary. The Nashville statement caused more controversy than any inclusive advertisement. The gay Adam in the “banned advertisement” by Centraal Beheer in 2008 was not “banned” at all, but that word did help him go viral. It was never broadcast. For more examples, see “Forbidden fruits: the (gay) advertisements that did not go unnoticed”.

The Netherlands was, is and remains diverse – there is still some room for criticism in view of the political developments of recent years, but that is also relative. We were consistently in the top five of most LGBT+-friendly travel destinations for ten years, in ’23 we fell to 24th place (which we shared with French Polynesia and New Caledonia, I mean), and this year we are at a measly 21. In my opinion, this is partly due to the rumblings surrounding the transgender law, the increasing incidents of violence, the shameful policy of the IND (“not gay enough”) and the rise of Geert et al., which has a flywheel effect on this area. In any case, our advertising world is simply wonderfully diverse, and we see that reflected in TV and online advertisements. Three examples – and a bonus.

Also read: Super Bowl Ads: What Would Jesus Do?

1. Heineken – Crate Chronicles (2019)

The first example concerns the second largest beer brewer in the world, our own Heineken. While leader AB InBev took a big hit with their influencer misstep (but even more so with everything that happened around it), Heineken is doing better.

They did make a false start with some gay vague or gay tease commercials (that is: innuendo and jokes that often fail and are usually derogatory) with “Wrong Bar” (1996) and Amstel’s blunder with “Is it a man?” ( 2001). After this, however, things went much better with a well-defined internal HR policy and carefully executed advertising strategies. In that context I place “Crate Chronicles”:

What they also like is that thick Dutch accent of the voice-over, where ‘crate’ sounds the same as ‘great’.

2. ABN AMRO – What is your story? (2015)

In 2015, the bank changed its strategy with the associated pay-off: What is your story? They released this lifestyle advertisement. It depicted the moments in life when people think about their (financial) options. One of those moments was a wedding, in this case casually with two grooms (and one manbun).

3. HelloFresh – All Kinds of Chefs (2018)

Although HelloFresh is of course a German company, this advertisement was also broadcast on TV in the Netherlands. Among all those types of chefs, two men are just cooking together.

Bonus: Delta Lloyd, Skater (1999)

And then another classic from ye olde box (hence the poor quality), just like AMEV. In this case, the rainbow was dealt with straightforwardly. An original clash (literally, if the commercial had lasted 3 seconds longer) between über-macho ice hockey and the elegant sport of figure skating. Stereotypical, but funny and respectfully done (the coiffed figure skater is portrayed as a hero) and I can appreciate that.

However, as an advertiser, you have to be careful with stereotyping, especially to get laughs ‘at their expense’.

Conclusion

The Dutch know it: diversity exists and should not be missing in advertising. Not an explosion of all minorities in one video, but alternately and casually showing that you know that not every household is a caucasian mom & dad show.

Alfred Verhoeven is a marketer and is in the final phase of his PhD research Marketing the Rainbow.
He previously wrote for ILOVEGAY about Pride Month,  The Oldest Rainbows, Royal Dutch Shell part 1 and part 2, Marriott part 1 and part 2, Super Bowl Ads: What Would Jesus Do?, Zalando’s journey from activism to size-inclusive shoes, Zalando goes from controversies to hidden stories, Get woke, go broke, Spain has 6.8 billion reasons to love rainbow tourists, How Spain markets itself as rainbow destination, Everyone’s gay in Amsterdam, I Amsterdam, Gay Capital, The Ideal Traveler, Diversity & Language, Playing with Pronouns, Abercrombie & Fitch : The Rise & The Fall, Play the gayme: about SIMS and Candy Crush, Diversity in Toys, LEGO does the rainbow, Barbiemania, Bud Light and the 4 bln dollar woman, Dutch retailer HEMA loves everybody, Pronouns, About those rainbows, Alphabet soup, M&M’s and the lesbian invasion, Magnum and the lesbian wedding, Marketing the Rainbow: the process and all that came before it, Sport and (un)sportmanship,  Why you need a supplier diversity program, BeNeLux LGBTIQ+ Business Chamber (BGLBC), From B2C and B2B to B2G and G2G (oh, and G2C), The Men from Atlantis, The other kind of cruising, Booking.com, Home Deco, Haters and trolls: the ‘letter to the editor’ of the 21st century, 5 Bizarre LGBT Videos, TRANSparency, Transgender persons as a target group, Matchmaking, 5 videos that went viral, From Representation To Respect, Cultural sensitivities and social involvement in marketing, 4 reasons to practice diversity and The Rules of Market Segmentation.