Tearful PFLAG Ad: "It's Never Too Late For Love To Call Back"

(screen capture)

Television viewers watching the Tony Awards last night were wrecked by a new video from Verizon that features real families who struggled with a family member coming out, but were eventually able to find better communication and understanding.

Verizon worked with PFLAG, the nation’s largest organization uniting families and allies with people who are LGBTQ, on the message that a bad “first call” doesn’t have to be the end of family relationships.

"It's never too late for love to call back."

Lee Hirsch, who helmed the award-winning 2011 documentary Bully, was brought on to direct the campaign.

Titled “Love Calls Back,” the video features four real-life LGBTQ people who got a bad reaction when they called loved ones to come out.

The spot begins with a young woman speaking to the camera: “Me and my mom were always BFFs until I called her and told her I, like, want to date a girl... and she lost it.”

The camera cuts to the mother, who shares, “It was a shock. It’s not what I wanted for my daughter.”

“She has to live her own life and do what she wants,” the mother continues. “I haven’t said that to her -- but I think that would have made a big difference.”

The clip cuts to the mother calling her daughter to say, “You know when you first called me, I should have told you how much I loved you then.”

“Whoever you bring into this home will have my love also,” she adds.

The Twitterverse was shook:

Me after watching the #PFLAG/@verizon commercial during the #TonyAwards. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 pic.twitter.com/VwA817tTem

— Have Wine, Will Travel 🍷🌎 (@wanderlust_mel) June 10, 2019

Well that @verizon commercial just ruined me 😭 #PFLAG

— Grayson (@GraysonSjoholm) June 10, 2019

Dear @verizon the #Pflag commercial was incredibly moving. If you've turned your back on your #LGBTQ family member, it's not to late. Please reach out. Everyone needs their family. Love is love.

— Nerd & Lace (@nerdandlace) June 10, 2019

I love the Tonys and theatre but damn if it wasn't the Verizon/PFLAG ad that reduced me to a puddle of tears. #verizon #pflag #loveislove #Familylove #welldone

— Nate Wade (@therealNateWade) June 10, 2019

This @Verizon/#PFLAG ad was heartbreakingly 💔 real.
Parents, love your #LGBTQ kids. We deserve nothing less. 🏳️‍🌈#TonyAwards #PrideMonth

— Victoria Brownworth #PrideMonth (@VABVOX) June 10, 2019

Verizon has announced a series of initiatives for Pride Month that includes content shared across major media outlets like Yahoo News and HuffPost, as well as employee engagement at 19 Pride events across the country.

The communications giant is also donating $250,000 to PFLAG to help build programs that offer support to families and their LGBTQ loved ones.

Verizon and PFLAG created a similar spot last year for Pride, but in that sixty second spot, all goes well for those coming out:

IKEA Features Mixed-Race Same-Sex Couple In New Ad

With a new ad campaign that asks the question, "Where did the American Dream go?" Ikea looks to focus more on it's customers - including a mixed-race same-sex couple at home - and less on actual merchandise.

Not only that, but there's a clear nod to marriage equality with a flag flying in the background which reads, "All homes are created equal."

More from AdWeek:

"The idea of asking where did the American dream go was not to show that it went away," explained Leslie Stone, director of strategic services for Ogilvy, the shop behind the creative work, "but that people are living it every day in diverse ways."

"There are so many different ways that Americans live—multigenerational, gay parents, etc.—that define the real portrait of the America that's really out there," Stone said. "If we'd put across 20 different living situations, they'd all be equally powerful."

Ad Campaign: #ChooseBeautiful From Dove

As part of a new campaign, Dove set up signs above side-by-side doors in five cities around the world. One door was labeled "Beautiful" and the other "Average."

Cameras recorded the way women reacted to the marked doors -- and which one they ultimately walked through. The simple act of choosing which door to walk through became a thought-provoking exercise.

Asked one woman, "Am I choosing because of what's constantly bombarded at me and what I'm being told that I should accept? Or am I choosing because that's what I really believe?"

Now you know I would just hippy-hop right through that Beautiful door.

And you should, too.

Ad:"Republicans Are People" - And Also Stock Photo Models It Seems

Conservatives wanted to remind people that "Republicans Are People Too" with an ad campaign insisting that Republicans recycle and have tattoos.

But as The Daily Banter pointed out, the woman the ad used to prove that "Republicans are black" is actually a very popular stock photo.

Her image is featured on the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys' website and a promotion for a discount on glasses.

And unsurprisingly, TPM found that the other every-man Republicans featured in the ads were also stock photos.

The "Republican" reading the New York Times? Stock photo...

The "Republican" tattoos and beard guy? Stock photo...

Oh, and the "Republican" who drives a Prius? Yep. Stock photo...

So, it's very possible none of the folks in the ad campaign are really Republicans.

Or - maybe the message the GOP is trying to send is that a lot of Republicans are fake?

Not really sure at this point.

(via Talking Points Memo)

Gun advocacy ad features kids finding and playing with dildos

From gun safety advocacy group Evolve comes this ad designed to encourage adults to keep guns stored safely away from children's reach.

Tagline: “If they find it, they’ll play with it. So always lock up your guns."

In the ad, a young mother is picking up her son from a play-date as the two boys race around the house. The boys run out onto the front lawn enjoying some sword-play with two super-sized dildos clearly found somewhere in the house.

Cue the embarrassed look on the mothers' faces.

(via RawStory)

Video: Clothing line Nasty Pig debuts Spring/Summer 2014 line

The designers at Nasty Pig have unveiled their latest clothing campaign in a video for their Spring/Summer 2014 line.

Past campaign vids have hit the streets of downtown and the beaches of Fire Island, but this one takes place inside a video game.

(h/t Towleroad)