More queer-inclusive holiday ads?!
Ritz Crackers is the latest to join the growing list of companies marketing LGBTQ people with inclusive advertisements. In their latest ad, the company released a video of several struggling families. From a mother and her daughter living in a shelter for unhoused people to a grandmother being stuck at a retirement home, or queer people feeling emotionally disconnected from their families.
“The holidays are about spending time with family,” the video’s voice-over says. “Whether it’s the one you’re born into, or the one you make.”
From there, the scenes get more joyful as the daughter befriends a man at the shelter by sharing a Ritz cracker with him, the grandmother enjoys the holidays with other people at the retirement home, and the queer people throw a holiday party for themselves.
The ad campaign “challenges the definition of ‘family’ and the belief that it has to be defined by blood or marriage,” said Patty Gonzalez, the Senior Director of Marketing at Mondelēz, which is the parent company of Ritz.
In addition to releasing this advertisement, Mondelēz and Ritz Crackers have donated $50,000 to the It Gets Better Project, Hispanic Star (which supports the Hispanic/Latinx community), and Invisible People (which supports unhoused people).
Ritz’s ad is the latest in an ongoing trend of LGBTQ-inclusive or themed content for this holiday season. From Hulu, Netflix, and Lifetime all working on holiday specials with/about LGBTQ people to companies advertising to us. In terms of the latter, Etsy recently released an endearing holiday ad featuring a Black gay couple. Plus, Oreo released a “meet the parents” advertisement last month.
Who will be next to promote LGBTQ people in their holiday advertisements?
