Evolution of commercials

[Stephanie Miller]

Sabrina brought up a post about a hot dog commercial that got me thinking. I realize there are more advertisements now with crossdressers in them than before. But is the perspective they portray all that good for us? Is the old axiom "Bad advertising is better than no advertising?" Or is it really doing us harm?
We have brought up the talk about commercials over and over. But as with most things, commercials, T.V., movies as well as peoples acceptance (or lack of) of crossdressing evolve, and the discussions about them change too.
We remember the Nintendo commercial where dad bribes the son not to tell. Or the commercial where dad and his football watching buddies are having a tea party with his daughter ("Is that MY wedding dress?"). Both going a different direction with the message. And the most recent, mentioned by Sabrina.
So are they helping or hurting? Is it better for the commercials to put out in front of the public the portrayal that crossdressers are all drag queens or is it better for them to just let crossdressers blend into the background for the most part? And of course we have the whole spectrum in between.
Is one image better for us in the long run? For instance just two examples. ) and I'm sure you can come up with a bazillion more.....)
1) Richard Chamberlain on the Drew Carey show
2)RuPaul's Drag Race
Just examples

[Tracii G]

Never cared much for RuPauls drag race show and felt it did some harm to CD's.Too much drama and back biting.

[Beverley Sims]

I don't think they are too negative, some are funny and show that people are different.
Another chipping away at stereotypes I think.

[Lorileah]

Perpetuating stereotypes and myths are not helpful. Things like that were used in advertizing 50 years ago where they used minorities and women. Would not be tolerated today. But we all sit back and go "ha ha funny". You won't sell much product when you have a T person hawking it on the level in this day.

[Dana L]

Lets face it if it wasn't for them or tv shows many people would not even know what a CD is. Yes they do paint cross dressers in a negative or degrading light but in the long run CD's will not be something unheard of to many people. Remember we must allow exposure to the public first before we can expect acceptance.

[Lorileah]

so Dana you believe that being made a butt of bad humor will get us noticed in a good way? How will this lead to acceptance?

[Dana L]

so Dana you believe that being made a butt of bad humor will get us noticed in a good way? How will this lead to acceptance?
Not nessesarly, but everybody is a little freaked out the first time they see something new. Many good things have a rough start. Besides I used to think I was just weird or something wrong with me until I realized that I wasn't alone.

[Tina B.]

Saw a commercial last night, forget the product, wasn't paying much attention, but as the announcer talked they showed quick shots of ordinary people, both men and women, but the last head shot stopped me in my tracks, It was obviously a male, in a blue turtleneck long hair, and a nice single strand of peals, nothing pointed out, just one of the head shots. I think it was great, it looked really main stream.

[AllieSF]

I am one who believes that more exposure to the transgendered world is better, even if some of the specific exposure appears to some to be made in a negative way. We always say here that the general public is uneducated about us and therefore do not have enough pre-knowledge of how to react when meeting or seeing one of us. I saw the early television and movie introductions of gay roles in their programs and movies. Some was stereotypically poorly done. They have come a long way baby since then. Brokeback Mountain, Will and Grace, Ellen Degeneris, and so on. I think that the earlier efforts helped pave the way. I personally have not been offended by what I have seen so far. I have not seen everything out there. I am always surprised to see some TG reference in character or sub story line pop up occasionally in some well known sitcoms, like Friends (Chandler's dad is a MtF TS and attends his wedding). For me keep it coming and try to keep it good, and I think that it is and it is getting even better, i.e. positive for our coming out cause.

Now, they way some people write here, we might as well also include those TG's/CD's that do not dress the way some others think that they should, and are thus giving all of us a bad name. That for me is another bullshit statement. It may affect a rare few, but on the whole, I believe that it helps us all. More exposure equals better knowledge and their future capability to better judge and understand what they see or hear.

[Jilmac]

I don;t know about commercials, but mainstream tv has portrayed crossdressers either as buffoons or gay drag queens. I haven't seen a single program on tv where the crossdresser is a family man with a full time job, a house in the suburbs, drives a pickup truck, and relaxes by dressing on weekends. I think that type of portrayal would more accurately describe the average crossdresser.

[ErinSassyPants]

I don't think it's right but if you look at the history of groups that became more accepted they were first invisible, then the butt of jokes and then some realistic portrayals began. This is true of every group I can think of. So while it's not acceptable that the media portray any group as jokes it is probably a good sign of things to come.

[AllieSF]

Erin,

That is my view point too. I agree Jil that we are at the present time not portrayed in the most favorable manner, nor were gays and lesbians and look at where they are now. They still have a long way to go too. We are really just starting now that a lot of new anti-discriminatory laws are being passed as we enjoy the benefits started by blacks, other minorities of us that are out there in any shape or form can only bring us additional benefits over the long term.

[Vickie_CDTV]

I know some people find it offensive, but the folks on RuPaul's Drag Race are not claiming to represent actual TV/TS people, they are DQs (and to the best of my knowledge) do not claim to be representative of anything but DQs. Seriously, if any media portrayal does us harm in the eyes of John Q Braindead it is the horrific examples of (supposedly) trans people on Springer and Maury which are far worse than anything on RuPaul's show.

Drew Carey's crossdressing brother was one of the few remotely accurate portrayals of heterosexual transvestism on mainstream television. Sure, it was sometimes used for laughs but not in a malicious way. For that, I give the show a lot of credit.