NEW YORK – The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) honored the best in LGBT-inclusive advertising, marketing and public relations at the 2011 GLAAD Amplifier Awards Oct. 4. The awards, held at The Altman Building in New York City, were an official event of Advertising Week and were presented by Omnicom Group, and presented in part by DraftFCB, Publicis Groupe and ROKK Vodka.
The GLAAD Amplifier Awards celebrated and honored those individuals and campaigns in advertising and marketing industries that presented fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and issues that affect the lives of LGBT people.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 3 contestant Manila Luzon hosted the event and was joined by several special guests and honorees including R&B singer and former contestant on The Voice Frenchie Davis, who provided a stellar musical performance.
Other special guests included: Tabatha Coffey (Tabatha’s Salon Take Over), Wilson Cruz, Christine Ebersole, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge (The Fabulous Beekman Boys), recording artist Wynter Gordon, Sonja Morgan (Real Housewives of New York City), New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Anthony Rapp, MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts and Ramona Singer (Real Housewives of New York City).
A host of companies and organizations were honored for their inclusive portrayals of LGBT people in advertisements and marketing strategies. Award recipients included: Google’s television ad for Chrome, The Web is What You Make of It: It Gets Better Project, GE Monogram’s print ad, So What’s Cooking in the Kitchen, MetLife’s print ad Not All Ifs in Life are the Same, American Airlines’ outdoor campaign Beach Towel, Wells Fargo’s print ads for LGBT financial advisors and the I Love My Boo campaign by GMHC, New York’s first HIV/Aids non-profit organization.
During the event, MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts presented Allstate with the Corporate Responsibility award for its long-standing public commitment to the LGBT community. Allstate Marketing Director Georgina Flores accepted the award and said that it was, “For all the LGBT Allstate agents and their LGBT customers.”
Chief commercial officer for American Airlines, Virasb Vahidi, presented Bob Witeck and Wesley Combs of Witeck-Combs Communications with the Public Visibility Award in recognition of their careers advocating for LGBT inclusion in all forms of media and marketing.
To view the award-winning advertisements go to glaad.org/amplifierawards/awardrecipients.
