"The Games have always been a little gay."
That's the tag line of a new campaign for the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion, produced by ad agency Rethink.
The public service announcement features slow-motion footage of men's doubles luge, set to The Human League's '80s pop hit, Don't You Want Me.
It is meant to address Russia's law, passed in July, that bans gay "propaganda"; and the concerns about the treatment of gay people in the Winter Olympics host country. The spot urges people to fight for inclusiveness at the Games.
Of course, it's not the first time the two-man luge has been called homoerotic by snickering onlookers – usually as a punchline, not as advocacy for diversity. An old Royal Canadian Air Farce sketch, for example, made fun of the concept of a luger who confesses feelings for his teammate. And the term has an entry at UrbanDictionary.com, which chronicles slang, profanity and often sexual terminology.
CIDI says the campaign is an expression of support for equality.
Betting on the blimp
When it comes to advertising beer, the sky is not the limit.
Labatt Breweries of Canada and its ad agency, Anomaly, have launched a new campaign designed as a "gift for hockey fans": a 21-metre, lit-up Budweiser "zeppelin" (which is technically a blimp) that will soon be flying the Canadian skies.
The company unveiled the flying machine in an ad that aired in Canada during last Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast.
It is the third year in a row that the beer maker has invested in creating an ad specially for the big game that is tailored to Canadian audiences – who watch football but are hockey lovers first and foremost.
During last year's game, it unveiled its Red Light – a product that hockey fans could buy and program to go off just like a goal light every time their favourite team scores.
The "Red Zeppelin" is made to look like one of the lights. The ad showed Team Canada beating Russia in Olympic hockey – scenes of a dejected crowd in Moscow are juxtaposed with scenes of jubilant Canadians bathed in red light. Budweiser will be taking off with some real-life flights in Canadian cities soon.