Gay = trendy? University of Oslo ad via Google

• NickoftheNort...
  
  Posts: 1416
  
  
  Mar 24, 2008 3:43 PM GMT

  This advertisement popped up while I was checking out some YouTube videos:
  
  
  
  First, I did not know that being gay / same-sex oriented was trendy.
  
  Second, how cool is it that Norway's primary university uses gay advertisement to lure in students?
  
  PS: the video in question was a fitness video, Regular Guy's Workout : Athletic Training for Performance: Part 3 by ExpertVillage

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  Mar 24, 2008 5:22 PM GMT

  i'm not sure i understand why a university would use any form of sexuality to sell itself.
  
  also, does the ad imply that being gay is trendy? i'm not sure that's a compliment.

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  Mar 24, 2008 6:24 PM GMT

  Well it is here in holland, a gay man is a girls number 1 accesory
  
  It's really superficial with the people i come out to, they are like; 'oh yeah we can go on shopping sprees together and do fun stuff..! '.
  
  
  It's almost cool now to have a gay friend, i refuse to be seen as a trend though.
  
  
  

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  Mar 24, 2008 6:30 PM GMT

  My guess is that some marketers have been reading about the recent demographic shifts among youth to places that have higher populations of gays and artists. Generally speaking, recent research has noted that the young and affluent have been more likely (at least in the US) to be moving into population centers with large gay populations, as they are associated with more "progressive" environments. It's likely that the University's marketers are catching on to that and trying to use it to sell the place as a progressive environment.

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• NickoftheNort...
  
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  Mar 24, 2008 6:43 PM GMT

  I think I understand some your concerns DJ and Soufian in terms of the trendiness.
  
  I read the ad as more innocent, as encouraging the personal growth and experimentation that can take place at college / university (it's common, in Norway, to first move out of the family home once you go to college / university, due to a sizeable government stipend + student loan program).
  
  As for the trendiness, I interpret it as saying that experimentation and personal exploration gets a big thumbs up.
  
  Personally, I'm pleased with some positive objectification of gays. It's about damn time that we get our time in the rainbow spotlight of PC-dom.

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  Mar 24, 2008 6:50 PM GMT

  Tolerance and acceptance seems to be a current trend (let's hope it continues).
  
  Being gay is not. There have always been gay people.

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  Mar 24, 2008 8:34 PM GMT

  I'm not sure if it was gay per se, but a couple of years ago there was a strange commercial on Spanish television, advertising - I think - Canon cameras. Maybe it was more of a misogyny thing. It was a series of artsy photos of naked males (all ages) alternating with images of a woman in a long red dress, who gradually morphed into a demon.
  
  I never did quite figure out exactly what demographic they were aiming toward.

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  Mar 24, 2008 8:46 PM GMT

  I wanna go to university of oslo :'(

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  Mar 24, 2008 8:52 PM GMT

  [shrugs] maybe they're just targeting girls. Ever heard of yaoi? maybe this is the post-pubescent, college-entry-age girl equivalent.

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