LGBTQ+ inclusion in the ad industry

The past few years have seen an increasing number of brands and companies celebrate diverse voices and perspectives and become stronger allies of the LGBTQ+ community.

Coinciding with youth-culture agency and production company Young Hero's recently launched PRIDE 365 initiative, targeted at increasing brand support for LGBTQ+ artists year-round, filmmaker Junting Zhou, photographer Lex Barberio and designer Jacques Agbobly came together to discuss inclusion across the advertising industry and arts space for this roundtable discussion.

Citing experiences from their pasts, observed behaviour from the industry and a strong view of what they would like to see, highlighting both the leading and the lacking thoughts around representation.

Can you discuss the importance of the LGBTQ+ community within the arts scene?

Lex Barberio (They/Them): I feel like art is all about evoking emotion. When it comes to good art, you either love it, hate it or have a strong opinion about it – otherwise it becomes forgettable. 

Having LGBTQ+ people represented in the arts space is important because if you’re not including these voices, you’re missing out on a range of emotions, thoughts and feelings that you’d wouldn’t be able to elicit on your own. You miss out on a slice of life, when you don’t include the community in the art industry.

Junting Zhou (He/Him): Society is becoming increasingly polarized and a very different place than the world that I grew up in. On one end, you have people like me, my friends and communities that celebrate diversity, while on the other end of the spectrum, we’re witnessing growing intolerance on a more global scale. 

To combat hate and challenge biased viewpoints, it’s important that the arts represent LGBTQ+ voices and people of color, and what better way to increase visibility in the arts than by supporting diverse representation in advertising and branded content – the most accessible form of creative media? 

Whilst not everyone will regularly watch a movie or read a book, they will see a commercial on TV, the internet, billboards – everywhere, every day.

Whilst not everyone will regularly watch a movie or read a book, they will see a commercial on TV, the internet, billboards – everywhere, every day. It’s important that ads and branded content reflect more diverse representation, in order to challenge bigoted values and prejudiced egos on a daily basis.

Jacques Agbobly (They/Them): For me specifically, as a black, queer person, I found comfort, acceptance and commonality within the arts. There are a lot of people that look like me, and the arts is a very queer-dominated space that we’ve always been able to use to express what’s going on within our community and within ourselves. 

It’s important that the arts continue to be diverse and represent a wide variety of creatives, and that my voice be heard in this space, because, growing up, I didn’t see anyone that was black or dark skinned like me in the arts scene. 

Above: The launch video for Young Hero's PRIDE 365 initiative.

Why is it important that brands are allies of the LGBTQ+ community year-round, and not just during Pride month?

JA: When I think about the advertising industry, what comes to mind is the idea of tokenizing. By representing a specific group only during a specific month of the year, you’re tokenizing the community. It doesn’t really show that there is actual groundwork or change happening within the space if it becomes tokenization. 

The arts is a very queer-dominated space that we’ve always been able to use to express what’s going on within our community and within ourselves. 

It’s important to represent diversity year-round, because it shows that structural changes within the ad industry are being implemented. It also shouldn’t just be about who you see represented in the ads. The industry needs to be hiring queer people of color to take on projects and paying them at competitive rates.

JZ: Nowadays, everything is like fast food. Every piece of content or news is mass-produced and consumed, one after the next, and it can become overwhelming. Today’s big story won’t make the headlines tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean it ceases to exist – the people, stories and current events are still happening, even after the world shifts focus. 

When brands fully integrate themselves into the culture and include everyone, they’re really covering a lot more ground.

The LGBTQ+ community is still here after June ends, though brands tend to shift focus to the next big initiative once Pride month concludes. For brands to show true sincerity to the community, they need to offer year-round support instead of just using Pride month as a tool to celebrate themselves.

LB: We exist all year round. We’re out here. The purpose of a brand is to sell something, and I’m more likely to buy from somebody who I know is reputable and has gone through a similar experience as me. Overall, it just makes a brand more credible. It doesn’t cut it when you’re just surface-level with people. People know when you’re faking it. So, when brands fully integrate themselves into the culture and include everyone, they’re really covering a lot more ground.

Above: Jacques Agbobly's work in wearable garments and textiles.

What are some of the challenges that you’ve faced in your career as an artist?

LB: At age 17, I thought my work would be famous and everything would be rockin’ and rollin’. Things don’t move as quickly as they should, because you need to meet the right people who are interested in your work, so I’ve had the same struggles as all artists. Specifically, as an LGBTQ+ artist, sometimes you can feel pigeon-holed into only showing this side of you, when really, it’s not what defines you, it’s just a part of you. 

You want to be included in the Pride initiatives and represent the community, but the second that you stop, people who are bandwagon fans are done with you.

JA: I’ve run into a lot of obstacles in this industry, not only as a queer person, but also as a person of color. A lot of the work that I do is very visibly queer and black, so oftentimes people tend to be scared of that. I run into issues when securing proper funding or investments for projects, gaining recognition or being considered for opportunities. 

I’m lucky that I haven’t faced too many challenges as an LGBTQ+ artist. For me, the challenge is that I’m an immigrant.

I feel like I have to work at least three times as hard to be successful, whereas white cisgender artists may not need to put in as much effort for recognition. Because of my experiences, I also hold myself to very high standards for quality and work ethic, so when I see someone who has a better experience due to their race or financial status, it’s challenging.

JZ: I’m lucky that I haven’t faced too many challenges as an LGBTQ+ artist. For me, the challenge is that I’m an immigrant. Many of my friends are also immigrants, and it’s easy for us to connect to each other and understand what it’s like to survive in NYC. 

A lot of times, you don’t feel like you’re celebrated, and you need to fight and work harder for people to recognize you.

Above: Lex Barberio's innovative Ambisextrous Project.

Have you seen greater acceptance of diverse voices working in the advertising space?

JZ: Generally no, but in the United States, things are slowly improving. On television, you see a lot more inclusivity on TV shows and commercials. For example, I worked with my friend on a Bubly Sparkling Water commercial that cast drag queens, supported a lesbian bar and brought together a diverse crew. 

I’m seeing good inclusive collaboration, but there’s more work to be done globally.

JA: From my perspective, there is still a huge amount of work that needs to be done. Within the last year, specifically, we’ve seen a lot of businesses agree to implement structural changes to include more black folks or marginalized communities. 

There is such a wide range of people working at most agencies, that it’s hard to make the same mistakes we have in the past by being discriminatory or non-inclusive. 

We’re not quite out of the woods with this pandemic yet, so it’s still hard to see those changes come into fruition – especially in the fashion space, where everything revolves around working in-person. I do think that the fashion industry is moving in a positive direction, but there’s more work to do.

LB: Brands are doing better, though there’s certainly work to be done. Even working on the advertising side, there is such a wide range of people working at most agencies, that it’s hard to make the same mistakes we have in the past by being discriminatory or non-inclusive. 

There’s a lot more attention to that in the industry, but we still have ways to go.