Mercedes And Nike Honor The LGBTQ Community With Their Amazing Ad Campaign
To celebrate Pride Month, Mercedes revealed a transphobia mural for Toronto Pride and Nike collaborated with vogue legend, Leiomy Maldonado to be part of their “Be True” campaign.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month (LGBTQ Pride Month) is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. So during the last month, some brands launched campaigns relevant to the issue.
Mercedes-Benz: Painted With Love | BBDO Canada, Toronto
We’re know that Mercedes-Benz is good at tugging on emotions, so this is one such example. Created by BBDO Canada, Painted With Love is about revealing yourself in your true colors.
In the video, a couple of people who have issues with their gender are making confessions – eg. transphobia – they get through it while growing up. They describe the emotions they’ve felt and then transfer these sentiments into murals.
The campaign was directed by Dan Gaede and promoted by OMD Worldwide.
Gaede, VP-creative director at BBDO Toronto, comments,
It’s easy to ignore hateful words when they’re not directed at you. With this project, we wanted to share stories from people who are targeted and demonstrate the real impact of hateful speech. We also want people to know they are loved and accepted regardless of their identity. In addition to combatting the negative speech, hopefully this will inspire more positive conversations.
Nike: The Wonder Woman of Vogue | The Wonder Woman of Vogue
This isn’t the first time Nike has collaborated with a transgender athlete, they previously featured Chris Moiser from Team USA. This time, Vogue artist and ballroom dancer Leiomy Maldonado stars in the video campaign for the #BeTrue collection. The video is directed by Daisy Zhou and produced by the company, Public Record.
The ad pays homage to New York City’s underground “ballroom scene” – a community that was created by impoverished Black and Latino LGBTQ youth as a place to safely express themselves and perform their dance moves.
The project also celebrates voguing, -a dance move previously performed by queer and transgender people in the 1960’s Harlem. The clip includes a narration by artist Precious Angel Ramirez:
What did you do to make a mark on this world? What mountains did you climb? Which angels gave you their wings? Which skies have you flown? When you reached the heavens, who was there to catch you when you fell? And did they tell them that you saved them too, like you save me? That they’re mending your wings and holding them up to the sun just to stand back and watch you fly. So go ahead, Ley. Fly.
We cannot choose which one is better because both projects are amazing and they both deliver a powerful message about self-acceptance and not being afraid to reveal who we are.
