Eleanor H.

How Advertising Has Impacted Queer Canadians Since the 19th Century

Eleanor H.
Toronto District School Board Regional Heritage Fair
Toronto, ON

My project tells the story of queer Canadian advertising, the ups, the downs, the firsts, and the fight. Queer advertising is similar to many forms of activism; both drive change, both require strong people to set them up, and, most importantly, both have a huge impact on our world. Queer Canadian advertising has come a long way, from nothing to the first newspaper ad in 1975, then the first openly queer TV commercial in 1994, all the way to having government-issued ads about queer people and combating homophobia. A lot has changed in queer ads, and that means change in the world, but that would not be possible without leaders like John Solomon. He is a gay man who starred in the first queer TV ad, marking history! Advertising itself is so much more than another media; it shapes what we think, do, and buy, and that means it has the very real potential to change minds and outlooks. As well as change Canada and the world for the better. 

So with all that being said, what was the answer to my question? Well the answers are more complicated than others. It’s not a math problem. It doesn’t have a right or wrong so in my opinion, I think the queer advertising has hurt queer Canadians through under-representation and misrepresentation, but with that being said in more recent years, it has helped queer Canadians a lot to build spaces, discourage homophobia, and much more! So overall in my opinion, I think that it has helped and I think that it will continue to help Canadians and all marginalized groups from now onwards.

What sources and evidence did you consult for your project? What different perspectives did they provide on your topic?

The sources that I used for my project were the Canadian Encyclopedia, the CBC, Calgary gay history, IMDb, and Archives Canada. Sources like Archives Canada help me find facts, not opinions, just first-hand information. Sources like CBC helped me find opinion-based articles and second or third-hand sources for facts. And lastly, sources like IMDb and Calgary gay history helped me find basic information so I could dive deep with trusted sources like the Canadian Encyclopedia and CBC. I ensured the sources I used were trusted by asking teachers and checking the Toronto District School Board website for learning resources, where I found the CBC Canadian encyclopedia and Archives Canada, which were my main resources.

What is the historical significance of your topic?

I believe that the history of Canadian advertising is very important; like any other media, it shapes what we believe, think, and do. Especially with advertising, we normally do not have the choice of whether to view it. Whether you want it to or not, advertisements do affect everyone's choices. If queer people or any other group is underrepresented, it is easier to erase us, and doing that causes bullying, violence and more hate in our world. So the impact that Canadian ads can have on the queer community is huge, but let's break it down. The short-term impact of positive queer representation in Canadian advertising is that queer people buy products and feel seen and accepted. And the short-term impact of negative ads or underrepresentation in Canadian ads includes less support for those brands from queer people, and queer people feeling forgotten. The long-term impact of positive queer Canadian ads is that we lessen hate and homophobia through representation, we create more and more welcoming and safe spaces and people, and queer people continue to have more support and rights throughout Canada. The long-term impact of negative queer ads or underrepresentation in Canadian ads includes: more homophobic violence and hate, queer people becoming forgotten and erased, which will cause more and more separation and hate in our world. In those examples that I have, there are some of the ways that Canadian advertising has impacted queer Canadians. 

In the beginning of advertising underrepresentation in media like ads among other things encouraged homophobia and erasing of queer people in Canada, and as we got more representation in all media, including advertisements in Canada queer people became more accepted. They were more welcome, had more safe spaces and we got more queer rights in Canada. But how do we shift from encouraging homophobia to discouraging homophobia and hate, well it took a very long time and there were lots of parts first, we had to start with any sort of representation so in Canada, those were small newspaper ads about or featuring queer people in smaller prints, which then grew into the first TV advertisements, and then all the way to having government ads about queer people and seeing queer representation in the media all the time! 

Queer advertising has changed, which has changed how it impacts queer Canadians and that impact isone of the reasons why the history of queer Canadian advertising is so important.

Why did you choose this topic? 

I chose this question and topic because I am a queer person, have 2 moms, grew up in the LGBTQ+ community, and love advertising. So I wanted to contextualize both and understand the impact they have had on my community. For me, people not understanding the queer community or seeing them in the media led me to experience being bullied and erased by friends, teachers, and administrators in the TDSB. Like being told that I should hide who I am and lie that I have a mom and dad by a teacher because otherwise I would “make the other kids uncomfortable,” those sorts of comments are heartless and need to be stopped. 

So, with ads and other media, it can help people learn about and share information about my community, specifically queer families. So the sorts of things that happened to me never happen again. And I hope that, through my project, I can positively impact other kids like me, across Canada and maybe even the world. So if this helps one person learn more, helps one teacher read a book to their students about queer families, or makes one person change their mind or feel seen, this project will have been more than worth it.