BANK COMMENDED FOR GAY COUPLE IN TV AD

Gays for Equitable Media (GEM), a newly formed lesbian and gay South African media advocacy group, today commended Nedbank for its recent home loans television advert, which positively features a gay couple.

“South African advertising rarely shows any overt representation of gay people, unless of course they’re an object of derision or within a humorous context. It’s refreshing to see a large corporate like Nedbank acknowledge and respect the importance of its current and future gay customers,” says GEM board member (and Mambaonline editor) Luiz DeBarros.

The gay couple is included in the commercial, which represents a range of South Africans and their homes, as simply another part of the country’s diverse makeup. As the two men nestle against each other, the one says “mi casa”, the other one responding, “su casa” (“My house, your house”).

The TV commercial was made by production company Terraplane and directed by Benjamin McGowan, via Net#work BBDO, on behalf of Nedbank.

Says Nina Wellsted, Senior Marketing Manager at Nedbank: “Gay couples do form an important segment of our market, and we are glad to have represented them in our advertising campaign. We are confident that the campaign has captured the essence of South Africans and their emotional attachments to their cribs, palaces, sanctuaries or whatever they call home. Nedbank, as a bank for all, has included people of all cultures, races and sexual orientation.”

According to Wellsted, the bank has received a very positive public reaction to the campaign.

GEM has applauded Nedbank for being truly inclusive and reflecting the reality of a diverse contemporary South African landscape in its home loans campaign.