Billboard Of The Day

Today In Ambiguously Gay Advertising

Dozens of you have sent in the below Budweister ad in which some are seeing a gay subtext to a soldier's coming home story. I'm not seeing it.

Church Sign Of The Day

The above message is being displayed on an electronic billboard in Toledo, Ohio. The church has issued the below statement in support of their campaign.

This simple statement is intended to be a gift to those who have experienced hurt and discrimination because of their real or perceived sexual orientation. The Church seeks nothing less than the healing of the world, and Central UMC wants to offer words and acts of healing to those hurt and marginalized. Also, declaring that being gay is a gift from God is a prophetic call to the Church to get out of the business of marginalizing gay and lesbian persons from the Church, and to welcome them as full members.

Refreshing and positive religious news! On JMG!

ITALY: Cell Phone Ad Riles Catholics

Some Italians Catholics are incensed over the below 10-second cell phone ad in which a man resembling Jesus asks "Dad" for help in escaping a dominatrix.

"It's a sordid concept and incredibly insulting to those who believe in Jesus Christ," said an editorial in Avvenire, a daily newspaper owned by the Catholic Bishops Conference. The newspaper's editor, Marco Tarquinio, said the commercial should never have been made. He suggested that Catholics offended by the ad should stop watching the channel and boycott the company's products. An association of Catholic television viewers, Aiart, made a formal protest over the commercial. "The reference to Christ is explicit and deeply offensive to religious sentiment," it said in a statement.

Royal Wedding

The Verizon Guy Comes Out

Now that the long run of Verizon's "Can You Hear Me Now?" campaign is over, actor Paul Marcarelli has come out and is talking about the anti-gay abuse he endured while playing the character known as Test Man.

Marcarelli has a home in Guilford, Connecticut, and five summers ago, kids in an SUV began driving past at night, yelling, “Can you hear me now?” Later, says Marcarelli, “they started screaming ‘faggot’ up at my house. It got progressively more profane as the years went by.” One night, it happened while some friends were over, and he decided to call the police. “As soon as I hung up the phone,” he says, “I realized that in order for them to do anything about it, it would have to become a report that would go into a police log.” Worried about the publicity—and the questions that might ensue if it came out that the actor playing Test Man was gay—he declined to file a report.

Marcarelli has produced and written a film titled The Green, which "centers on how a small town slowly turns against a gay couple when one of the men, a schoolteacher, gets ensnared in scandal." His movie is currently being pitched to film festivals.

J. Crew Ad Draws Wingnut Fire

Anti-gay sites are going nuts about the above J. Crew ad in which a mother playfully paints her son's toenails pink.

Jenna Lyons and J. Crew seem to know exactly what they’re up to. That’s why the photograph of Jenna’s son so prominently displays his hot pink, neon toe nails. These folks are hostile to the gender distinctions that actually are part of the magnificent synergy that creates and sustains the human race. They respect their own creative notions a whole lot more than any creative Force in the universe. I wonder what Jenna would think if her son wanted to celebrate his masculinity with a little playacting as a cowboy, with a gun? Would that bring the same smile of joy and pure love that we see on her face in the J. Crew advertisement? Or would that be where she might draw the line?

The Freepers are reacting predictably.

Swedish Army Recruitment Ad

From the official YouTube channel of Sweden's Armed Forces.

OREGON: Marriage Ad Launched

Who's missing from this ad?

(Tipped by JMG reader Derek)

Homophobia From Manwich

Copyranter sez: "Maybe I'm just being a too-sensitive NYC metrosexual here, but casting a shirtless bear kinda adds fuel to the gay-bashing Manwich flame."

Slick It Up

Probably NSFW.

Clever Dicks Use Condoms

Copyranter reviews this condom ad from France: "Watch our hero's smart-missile solve a complicated math problem, do a book signing, disable a bomb, and paint a nude—ladies swooning at every pants-drop. And of course, it always wears a condom. Because it's SMART. A bit heavy-handed (that's what his chafed dick said last night) for my tastes. The guy looks like a douche."