Mustard on the Hedge

We’re not exactly spoiled for choice in Ireland when it comes to magazines aimed at lesbian readers. In terms of Irish publications there’s the free mag, GCN. Beyond that we can pick up a copy of the US mag Curve or the UK mag Diva- that’s if we visit one of the select outlets that sells these! We can now also download issues of G3- an English free mag. Yes our cup runneth over!

I browsed through a copy of Diva and G3 this weekend and was overwhelmed by the advertising. Ads for pet adoption, dating sites and sex toys filled many pages. Apparently there are two types of lesbians out there. Those desperately seeking love through singles nights and dating forums and those who have someone to do the bedroom tango with but are on a quest for the next colourful multi-noduled sex toy to send their relationship vibrating to the next level. Incidentally both of these breeds of lesbian either have pets or plan to have pets in the near future.

I work in media and so I am more than aware that publications, particularly niche publications, rely heavily on advertising. So I imagine that marketers and sales staff sat up in their chair when reading this article in the Evening Herald last week.

According to the Out Now GCN Readership Survey, gay and lesbian consumers can offer marketers a new and consistent stream of cash during recession times.

The survey claims to be the most comprehensive analysis of the 195,000 recorded gays and lesbians living in Ireland, who earned €8.75bn last year. Wow- €8.75bn! Clearly there are some very eligible gay folk in Ireland!

The results revealed that gay consumers spent €58m on fashion, more than €33m on grooming products and put a total of €16m on their credit cards.

According to Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now Consulting: “Gays and lesbians are obviously not immune to the effects of the general economy. But as a market grouping with much less competitive brand noise, and the positive effects on household disposable incomes of very large numbers of DINK — Double Income No Kids — consumers, the gay market makes a lot of sense for mainstream brands to target, especially at this time of recessionary fears.

This research shows that gay consumers offer a significant new market opportunity for companies in a number of consumer categories that are currently hurting because of the recession in Ireland,” he said. “Targeting this very brand-aware, extremely loyal market simply makes for smart business.”

So judging by these comments perhaps we’ll see more mainstream advertising which acknowledges the LGBT community. Recently on the tube (subway) in London I saw an ad for Lufthansa Airlines which showed two women hugging, one kissing the other on the cheek (and nope they didn’t look like ‘just friends’ either!). I know…practically lesbian porn but current advertising norms! However given the fact that recent efforts by well known brands to be inclusive of the gay community have resulted in nothing but complaints, I’d imagine this will be a slow and targeted process.