The Crowd vs. the Bandwagon Hoppers

There was once a time when a few corporations decided to do something brave: they recognized the gay population (i.e. the IKEA Dining Room Table ad created by Deutsch). Optimists may have looked upon this as simply being the right thing to do. A pessimist like me thinks they were just forward-thinking enough to tap into a burgeoning market that more conservative groups were missing out on. Fast-forward 17 years, or so, and you find groups leaping at the opportunity. Even McDonalds eventually jumps on the bandwagon! In this spot for the French market by Euro RSCG, we find a young man speaking to his partner on the telephone. His father unwittingly comments "It's a shame you're in an all boys college. You would have had all the girls chasing you." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBuKuA9nHsw The spot in itself isn't particularly notable, but does leave one feeling as though McDonald's is exploiting something that's largely become a non-issue. This point is exasperated by the absurdity of McDonald's being a place for meaningful dialogue between kids and their parents, as illustrated in some of the crowd's responses to the spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jydx568sSvU And in case you're wondering, yes, this too is far from "news." The campaign ran a year ago now. (For what it's worth, I don't watch French commercials particularly often, so, cut me a little slack.)