by Ann Rostow
Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network

Swedish furniture manufacturer and retailer IKEA is about to launch another gay-themed TV commercial, this one centering on a child with two gay fathers. According to a report on Adweek.com, the spot will be shown in Europe, where TV commercials are often more risque than in the United States.

IKEA was one of the pioneers in gay advertising, briefly releasing a spot in 1994 featuring a gay male couple shopping for a table, and having dinner together at home.

Since that time, however, the company has been joined by many other major corporations in using gay images in their marketing plans. But many of the most explicit ads are still reserved for Europe.

An ad for Boisvert lingerie, for example, shows an exquisite-looking woman walking through a restaurant, and flashes back provocatively to the lingerie she donned that morning. As male heads turn, she sits down at a back table, and passionately kisses her female lover. The caption asks: "Boisvert, Do Men Deserve It?" and the answer is: "No."

Although some companies have created gay-specific ads for the gay market, IKEA and a few others have included same-sex couples as part of general campaigns that either reflect alternative families, or send a message of broad mindedness. The Commercial Closet, a Web archive that focuses on representations of gays in advertising, is a gateway to many of these ads, both good and bad, from throughout the world, including a few other IKEA spots that some in the gay community considered missteps.

A print ad for the IKEA's tax-free sale showed a woman in jail for not paying her taxes, suffering the lewd attentions of her lesbian cellmate. Another thumbs down IKEA TV ad depicted a hissy fit staged by two stereotyped effeminate men, under the theme of "starting over." The men destroyed their apartment and one of them threw a poodle out the window, hence a trip to the furniture store was supposedly in order.