Chevy Won Award for “Gay” Volt Award

October 19, 2012 8:46 am ET

This post is a segment from the Detroit Bureau’s story “Chevy Wins Award for “Gay” Volt Award” written by Paul Eisenstein on October 3, 2012.

Chevrolet’s decision to resist “family values” critics and advertise in the gay media was rewarded with the Amplifier Award from GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, during a well-attended session in New York City.

The Chevy ad showed a new Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, framed between a more conventional Silverado pickup and Malibu sedan, declaring, “Mom, Dad, I’m electric,” a humorous twist on the classic challenge of gays coming out to their family.

The ad was originally published in a Michigan alternative lifestyle publication and cost the General Motors division just $750 to run. But it has since generated an estimated 11 million views on the Internet – and could gain even wider exposure in the wake of the GLAAD award – which triggered thousands of new postings on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

The success of the “I’m Electric” campaign is quickly amping up the debate over whether mainstream corporations should – or can – advertise in publications targeting the LGBT, or lesbian, gay, bixsexual and transgender, community.  Some, such as Subaru, have embraced that market in recent years while others have shied away or pulled back after facing threats of boycotts by conservative values groups.

But this year’s Amplifier Award nominees suggested that as more public figures – such as CNN’s host Anderson Cooper – “come out,” and polls show a slim majority of Americans now accept gay marriage, advertisers feel they need to reflect that in their campaigns.  Chevy’s Volt pitch went up against ads from Lexus, Orbitz, Absolut Vodka, Gilead Sciences and even Amtrak.

To read the rest of the article click HERE.