November 5, 2020
Watch: Etsy Holiday Ad Features Black Same-Sex Couple
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 1 MIN.
E-commerce site Etsy has a holiday treat for its LGBTQ shoppers: A cozy ad that depicts a Black same-sex couple being warmly welcomed by the family of one of the men.
The 30-second spot is part of Etsy's "Gift Like You Mean It" campaign, and is titled "The New Guy." The spot, which is scored with gentle piano music, begins with one of the two men reassuring his nervous partner with the words, "Don't worry. They're gonna love you."
The men join the festivities and the partner who's being introduced blends right in with the rest of the revelers, gathering with them at the dinner table and then around the Christmas tree for an exchange of gifts. An elder family member approaches the young man with a gift, saying, "We didn't forget about you."
Handing the gift to the "new guy," the older relative adds, "Welcome to the family."
When the couple opens the gift, they find a hand-stitched cloth ornament that depicts the two of them and bears their names: Brandon and David.
The site specializes in just such handmade craft items, as well as vintage
gifts, Wikipedia notes.
The ad is part of a new wave of inclusive Holiday programming and advertising, which includes LGBTQ-themed Holiday movies on the Hallmark and Lifetime channels and a recent ad produced in partnership between Oreo cookies and PFLAG in which a similar introduction takes place when a young woman brings her girlfriend to meet her parents for the first time.
Watch the ad below.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
