Confusion adds to Libra transgender ad controversy

Anyone complain about past Libra ads portraying men as stupid and clueless? No. Because they were amusing. This is too, I really can’t see what the fuss is about.

“Transphobic”? Sheesh…

The world has gone fucking insane. Social media should be shot. Don’t we realise we are chopping off our own head.

Great ad! Way to cut through. Certainly beats ‘the blue liquid’ approach!

Yes, it is transphobic. If it was an ad with a stereotypical gay guy being made to compete against a straight, athletic guy, you’d have the gay groups up in arms over something like this.

Because Transpeople are being used as the punchline however & there’s a gay guy in the ad, the gay groups are protecting their own.

I hope that there’s some way ACMA can fine both Libra & Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for this “commercial”, as productions like this have proven to be deadly in the past.

The statement from the talent is most interesting. I’m wondering if some of the confusion comes from the fact trans women belong in the women’s bathroom, but a gay man (or drag queen) would probably use the men’s.

By putting a (hairy armed etc) man wearing makeup in the women’s bathroom, they made a mess of it. Or was that meant to be the joke? If it is, it’s backfired.

I think the commercial is rather unkind to women.

Agree with Pedro. My prediction is 2012 the year of the social media mega storm.

So a couple of tweets and a company is going to abandon a bold, brave campaign that’s also a bit of fun?

The same people that would argue this ad is offensive would also de-cry there’s not enough exposure of trans-people on television and the media. If you can’t have a very light joke after two women characters have a fun ‘make-up off’ then what are you supposed to you have? A 100% positive, ‘everything is awesome’ ad about trans people? – No doubt someone somewhere would be offended it was too serious and didn’t get into the details of trans life.

Jeez. There’s only one garauntee: 100% of the time someone somewhere will find something offensive.

Obviously Libra can not afford to isolate the transgender community – think of the impact on tampon sales.

Made me laugh! Thumbs up.

Very clever, certainly generated more talk than the usual ads of girls hanging out at the beach that the category usually show. I reckon it’s terrific!

To hell with this whinging country and its so called “censorships”. We as viewers want to see this, that’s why YouTube is such a hit…user-generated will eventually be the only way we consume because of things like this.

Gosh!

Actually what gets me is not the ad but the slogan at the end: “Libra gets girls”

Which in the context of the ad implies that the person on the left is not female.

Pretty offensive to me. I know I would dare not say that to a transgender woman’s face.

@The Drew

Why do you think it would be safe on Youtube ?

They have censored racist and sexist videos in the past.

Offensive? Isn’t it stating the obvious? It’s pretty clear from the ad that the talent has no need for the product. Hence the gag.

The muesli and cardigan brigade need to pick a better cause than this one.

This ad isn’t clever or funny, it’s transphobic It excludes a group of women from their social setting because they unfortunately were born with the wrong reproductive organs.

Despite the actor commenting that he was acting as a drag queen, myself and many others viewed an ad starring two women. They were in the mirror, with long hair, long eyelashes wearing dresses. They both acted like women and their body language indicated they are women. And one was made to feel like less of a woman, because “Libra gets girls”, but apparently only certain types of girls.

The ad promotes this culture that it is okay to ridicule transgender people based on nothing more than your own inability to understand how it would feel to wake up every morning in the wrong body.

I saw it in the cinema just last week and thoroughly enjoyed it! I thought it was clever and fun and got great cut through as Dani said.
I _still_ laugh at the Invisibles ad with the chap using them as Superhero acoutrements! Great ads all round.

Last add-on – 11am Janaury (sic) 9 update? A bit of New Year’s soothsaying perhaps?
PS I love the ad…

@nathan mate the bloke is a bloke and not a girl. He’s a guy who dresses up as a girl and wouldn’t be offended if u pointed that out.

This is soooo sad

@Kat (#5) – While the character is a stereotypical drag queen, I don’t agree they are a “stereotypical gay guy”.

I think in assessing the advertisement fairly, you need to look at who the character is. There is a difference between a Drag Queen, a Transvestite and a Transexual. The character is a DRAG QUEEN.

The practice of drag is about bitchy, camp fun – It’s all about the punchline. This is distinct from transvestite or transexual culture.

Lighten the fuck up!

Seriously? Who in their right mind thinks that is a Transgender, it is obviously a Drag Queen. People need to Harden up!

It is just me that has noticed the name of the drag queen? …. Sandee Crack

The ad is supposed to be pulled yet articles still spread it around, I am the organiser behind the Petition that has nearly 2,000 signatures, the ad is now under review under section 2 of the unethical act at the Ad standards bureau.

Interesting and totally unsurprising that those who don’t get why women don’t like the advert are male. This advert is a prime example why the industry needs to engage and employ more female creative staff.

It wasn’t ‘just a few social media comments’ either. It was page after page after page on Libra’s own FB profile, discussions going on twitter and elsewhere. Every woman I talked to about the advert didn’t like it, nor the bullying behaviours shown.

Its not just about transgender, either. Don’t get your period? Not a real woman. (Sorry, a ‘real girl’) That includes people with fertility issues, irregular periods, people who can’t use tampons for whatever reason, those who are going through peri-menopause or are in menopause.

And the slogan about ‘Libra gets girls’? UGH. We’re women, grown ups for the most part and don’t take kindly to being talked down to. You don’t ever hear a company selling a product to men like that. “Reminton gets boys.” “Old Spice gets boys”. Women don’t want that crap, either.

As for the drag queen, Sandee Crack – there’s a female positive name, NOT.

Im with the majority – definitely see a drag keen rather than transgender. You would think people would be in a better mood after a little break.

oppps – so laid back I made a big typo! Queen, not keen.

Also, if it is still running in Cinema, it may be on the non digital screens which are harder to pull material from.

love the ad, don’t like the righteous comments…2012 should be the year of ‘get over yourselves’ ……IMHO 🙂

what a travesty , hope they paid you well miss crack.

There’s two debates here – did people like it and was it offensive. The two debates are separate. It is possible to like offense mTerial, even if it simultaneously offends us.

In regards the “I liked it, it cut through” argument, all that matters is what did the target audience think?

Surely the views of a bunch of blokes who are unlikely to ever buy the product (except under strict instructions from their wives/girlfriends as to specific type and brand) are pretty much irrelevant to the discussion.

All that is important for ‘like’ is purchase behaviour by the target group.

As regards the “is it offensive” argument, again the only group that matters is the targeted group (used in the ad as the antagonist).

Again, a bunch of white heterosexual males (or, in this case, females) is not the group who should get to decide whether this ad is offensive – they are not the targeted group.

Therefore I offer no judgement on the ad itself, just on those who persist on commenting on it – rather than kibitzing about whether you like the ad or not (on the basis this has some relationship to whether the ad is inappropriate), why not LISTEN to the groups the ad affects or targets.

Young women and the LGBT communities.

Two ears, one mouth people. Forgetting this makes you poorer communicators and influencers. It also makes you useless as advertising people, showing you up as more interested in yourselves than in the success of your clients.

There was a snickers ad a few years back – maybe the same agency, pretty sure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fOvWwC4tCM

Similar gag. I don’t see what the problem is but I would have thought there were more intelligent ways to be funny with tampons, the ‘what would a male copywriter know about tampons? Not much until I wore one for a day’ campaign.

Far out we’re a stiff and boring old bunch here if this is what sets people’s pants on fire. It’s an ad not a political statement. It’s funny which means it will cut-through. It’s well shot. The talent are both beautiful. It’s cheeky. And there are no euphemistic glasses filled with blue water showing the absorbency of the tampon. It goes straight to the heart of things. Women bleed, men don’t. What’s not to love!

I am a 34 year old women and think the ad is great – quirky and funny! Not sure how it’s offensive, as drag queens can’t use tampons! It also taps into the fact that most drag queens look amazingly more feminine and glamourous than ordinary women. I relate and will continue purchasing Libra!

I like the ad. It is amusing. I also fail to see what the overly PC bull is all about. Seriously, people are taking this the wrong way. It is extremely obvious that this is a drag queen and not a transgender woman. For those who fail to see that I suggest they get their eyes checked. Drag queens are known for their laugh at themselves attitude which this ad fits right in with. I personally think that the agency have done well to ensure that it is clear that this is a parody with a drag queen and have clearly identified the character as such and not a transgender.

As a female who normally couldn’t care less about tampon ads (they all do the same job so just give me the best possible price and least offensive packaging), I LOVE THIS ONE! It’s a little off-beat and funny. I think the PC brigade need to back off a bit and see it for what it is: an ad to sell a product, not make in depth social commentary.

Would it make me buy Libra over another brand – probably not but at least it gives me a little chuckle. Sure beats watching girls sunbake on beaches with furry animals or ridiculous stats on underwear usage!

LOVE THIS AD. bye bye blue liquid and WTF is that stupid beaver??? Very clever.

I love this ad AND don’t believe it should be deemed offensive. It is obviously a drag queen (man dressed as woman) rather than a transgender woman and the lack of need for tampons is obvious. The artist himself knows the difference and the nuances between the two, and has confirmed the intention of the ad team.

Let’s think though – if the left ‘woman’ looked more like a woman and less like a man then the idea wouldn’t work anyway.

Isn’t that the point of transgender – to be a woman without question, and not a man dressed as a woman?

Seriously? Are we that short of things to be offended by?

I don’t want to live in this world anymore. We have all gone insane. The most poignant point here is that no one ever complains when we see those tampon ads that convey men as bumbling idiots. We have pretty significant problems to worry about on this planet, and highlighting the fact that someone without female reproductive organs doesn’t need tampons isn’t one of them. Seriously, this is insane. Take a step back and think about it. This is your fight? This is your outrage? Have a little perspective. Jesus.

Like the Black and White Minstrel Show in the 1960s, and its implicit attitude that certain people are somehow “lesser” people than others, I found the Libra ad sexist, misogynist and trans-phobic.

I find it astonishing that some posters here seem to think that because they personally found the ad amusing, that those who were offended – including transgendered victims of discrimination, mockery and bullying – are not perfectly entitled to be offended by the implicit undertones of this ad. Bullies always blame the victims.

Please grow some wisdom and sensitivity, people.

I seems to be some people are experts on what and how transphobia feels. How could it possible be up to cis gendered people to tell us what does and what doesn’t effect us?

I am just curious, because I hear a chorus of trans people all over the world crying foul. Are you going to dismiss the voices of all these people. Look into your heart and you may find some of the answers you’re looking for.

Introduction

I was first made aware of the Libra ad by a friend on Facebook who is a university lecturer. She linked to an online article about it that had the video clip and was condemning the ad for being transphobic. I wasn’t sure initially I thought maybe people were confused about drag and trans, which is quite common, so I thought I’d look for myself before I passed judgement. I watched it and was upset instantly, straight away it looked like the character in drag was portraying a transwoman who was trying and failing to be a woman. Being a transwoman I was so disappointed that a company would think that this was acceptable. I got the feeling that the ad was implying that I was not a ‘real’ woman because I don’t need tampons, its been enough of an uphill battle of self realisation and progress to date that I don’t need hurtful ignorance perpetuated via mainstream advertising.

Mainstream misconceptions

The only people who seem to know the difference between a drag queen and a transwoman are people who either are one or are close to one. It really wasn’t clear whether the character played by the man in drag was playing the role of a drag queen or a transwoman and that changes the whole context of every action in the advertisement.

The problem with media like this is that it doesn’t help by blurring things, all it does is reinforce misconceptions and support negative stereotypes.

There are still a lot of people in Australia who don’t actually realise that there is more to sex and gender than just chromosomes, this is something that is understood within the medical world and has had quite significant and supportive rulings in Australian courts. I understand that it will be a long time yet before the general public realise that being transsexual is a biological, congenital condition. Until such time as information is more widely understood, there will remain the ignorant opinion that transsexual people are really just people of their gender assigned at birth who just choose to be the opposite gender. Current medical knowledge is that gender is innately defined within the biology of a person’s brain. This advertisement plays on ignorance to get a cheap laugh at the expense of those who have a serious medical condition, one who people who have the condition fall in to one of the highest suicide rates due to society’s lack of understanding and acceptance.

A drag queen, is someone who is a man, who is happy with their gender as a male who dresses up in drag for the purpose of performing or theatrics. A drag queen is not trying to be or pass as a female in society, they are parodying extreme female characteristics in an over the top kind of way.

Actors

The advertisement features two women, one presumably a cisgender woman, with quite subtle make up, the other has since been identified as a drag performer. There are plenty of subtle audio visual cues used in the ad, such as making sure the trans character is significantly taller and the exaggerated sound effects of the makeup application that are only applied to the trans character, I suppose to enhance the perception of her artificial femininity. For a drag queen though, she has to be one of the least made up ones that I have ever seen, which further blurs the boundaries of drag versus trans.

Depiction of events in the ad

There are several things that occur during the course of this short advertisement that don’t make sense if the character at the centre of this controversy is being portrayed as a drag queen. The reason for the offense is that if you watch the advertisement critically it becomes apparent that the character being portrayed and the specifics of each situation only make sense if in fact the character is a transwoman, this is what makes the advertisement offensive and vilifying. Having a character in drag is not a first for mainstream media and isn’t in itself offensive at all, I mean how popular was The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert? This advertisement could have been funnier and more inclusive had the transwoman character instead of being defeated and walking off, either joked about not needing tampons, or pulled out a pad and said I use these instead. The other way to make the advertisement work would have been to accurately portray a confident and flamboyant drag queen who would have been in no way offended by a cisgender woman and her tampons, would not have been sucked in to a contest and who would have handled the situation differently.

Initial look of realisation/disapproval – There is no mistaking the reaction from the cisgender woman to the transwoman character once she has glanced at her and realised. The reaction is to put it lightly one of disapproval. As a transwoman I would hate to be on the receiving end of that kind of reaction and attitude of non acceptance in the same situation. If the character was supposed to be a draq queen and not a transwoman, then there would be no disapproval as it would be quite obvious that the person is a drag queen. The implication immediately from this reaction is one of that this isn’t a real woman using the female facilities, if the cisgender woman was at a nightclub where there were drag performers, this situation wouldn’t really occur.

Competition – It doesn’t make sense for the cisgender woman to be competing with a drag queen, no cisgender woman is ever going to be as over the top glamorous as a drag queen so the competition wouldn’t exist. Unless of course the character isn’t actually a drag queen, but instead is a transwoman trying and failing to pass as a woman.

‘Winning’ by pulling out the real women only tampon – This competition to out female the transwoman by the cisgender woman, apart from itself being centred around superficial elements of beauty, ends with defeat of the transwoman by proving that she isn’t really a woman at all. This is the part that has offended pretty much every woman who for whatever reason doesn’t menstruate, for the obvious reason in that it implies that if you don’t menstruate you are not a real woman.

The disappointed look and leaving in a huff – This is the final event in the advertisement that really confirms that the character is a transwoman trying to pass rather than a drag queen. There is no reason that a drag queen would look disappointed by being out female-d by the tampon. I could see how this would offend a transwoman specifically, given our constant struggle for acceptance as being female and that the advertisement clearly appears to be portraying one in a horrible scenario. It also stands to reason that any woman who has reproductive or menstrual issues. If this character had been a drag queen in this situation in reality, I am almost certain that the drag queen would have come out with some sort of sharp witty comment about looking fabulous, without some of the drawbacks of being female rather than looking completely defeated and storming off.

The final line of text stating “Libra gets girls” has caught people’s attention. At the end of this short advertisement, after all of the mini events that have taken place, it is quite clear that the insinuation is that only people who use tampons are girls. That there are numerous reasons why girls might not need tampons is what has managed to offend an even greater number than just transwomen.

Portrayal

Based on the events in the advertisement and the way that the characters interact and react, one has to draw the conclusion that the non cisgender female is portrayed as a transwoman and not a drag queen. Not to mention that the drag queen in the advertisement is quite subtle with her makeup for a drag performance, it is also unusual for a drag queen to have a visible shadow.

I don’t think that it has been done maliciously, unless you are trans or are close to someone who is trans, you are probably not likely to know much about what I have written here. Unfortunately you don’t need to be deliberate to cause hurt.

Defending the ad and why those arguments fail

The common defences of the advertisement are superficial and do not actually stand up to scrutiny. I do understand though, that the people putting forward these arguments do not fully understand why the advertisement is offensive in the first place.

“but its a drag queen, not a transwoman!” Unfortunately this is only part of an argument. Yes, the actor is a drag queen, however as I have discussed, the character being portrayed in the advertisement bears more resemblance and takes offence to the cisgender woman’s actions like a transwoman would. So we have an advertisement that is using a drag queen to portray a transwoman to get a laugh at the expense of the cheap joke that a transwoman is trying to be but failing to be a woman.

“lighten up” What some people do not understand is that minority people like trans people are actually discriminated against constantly. That tends to take your sense of humour away pretty quickly. The extension of being discriminated against as the norm, and being the butt of jokes is that there will always be people who see that as giving them permission to act more inappropriately and in some cases violently towards minorities in this position. This is not something to be taken lightly, nor a situation that need perpetuating with ill considered attempts at cheap humour.

“its political correctness gone mad!” Political correctness isn’t even a tangible thing, it is the throwaway line of the ignorant person. There are things that are offensive and things that are not. Just as a blackface routine is offensive to people of colour, this advertisement is offensive to transwomen. Just because some people aren’t aware enough to know that something is offensive doesn’t mean that it is not.

My personal bit

As a transwoman who was diagnosed in 2009, began hormone therapy late that year and was living full time as a female in the world from early 2010, I still experience a bit of fear and anxiety in many common public places where a cisgendered woman would be much more comfortable . One of these places is in public toilet facilities. For me the situation in the commercial is something that I would avoid out of pure fear. It is kind of sad, but due to advertisements like this and the attitudes towards misunderstood transwomen, if I have to fix up foundation or eyeliner I do it in the cubicle using my compact mirror so that I can minimise the time that I spend in an area where I might be subject to scrutiny and run the risk of being outed and confronted in a negative way.

I had gender reassignment surgery in June 2011. This was not something that was some flippant choice, it is part of a recognised treatment that someone who is born with a brain and body that do not match can undergo. There are defined, international, medical standards of treatment, adhered to in Australia that have been in place and regularly revised since the 1970s. These include diagnostic, hormonal and other guidelines and a requirement to live in your affirmed gender for at least a year prior to surgery. The standards also require you to be confirmed as an appropriate person to undergo the surgery by two independent specialist psychiatrists and an endocrinologist, it is by no means a short term treatment. The reason for the involvement of specialists is that they must preclude any psychiatric conditions, as in give you a big red SANE stamp on your hand before you can proceed with your treatment. For some months after the surgery, for some transwomen for the rest of your life, the reality is that we need to wear sanitary pads. This is a product that Libra makes that I used quite a few of last year and carried them around in my bag. It is disappointing for a company that manufactures a product to alienate a group of people who use your product in such an insensitive manner.

Conclusion

The advertisement clearly does not work. Yes one of the actors was a drag queen, but the advertisement was constructed in a way that the character portrayed had more similarities to and the vulnerabilities of a transwoman. For that reason, this advertisement vilifies and is offensive to transwomen.

People loved the black-and-white minstrel show too. But it was still racist.

This ad is unable to not-be transphobic and sexist. It’ds basic premise requires a transphobic assumption, that non-transgender beats transgender. Because the competition is won because of menstruation it can only possibly mean women who menstruate win vs people who dont. Thats sexist towards non-trans women, its transphobic. at its core regardless of whether the character is a drag queen. And anyone who thinks drag queens dont include transsexuals better go back and re-watch Priscilla, don’t the remember Ternace Stamps character? Based on Australias legendary Carlotta? Drag Queens are part of transgender. And the ad puts the drag-queen down and disrespects her.

But ‘jokes’ have always been a part of spreading bigotry and with 38% of transgender women in Australia stabbed or assaulted with a weapon and 46% bashed and with an attempted suicide rate of 37%-54% that makes such ‘jokes’ complicit in violence and deaths. Making this not a minor matter but one about saving peoples lives. Thats why we banned sexist and racist jokes. Even though people loved the racist black and white minstrel show.

What the? Social media is really just getting on my nerves. To can an entire campaign for being transphobic? Is transphobic even a word. I agree with X, the world is really getting messed up.

I didn’t even know transphobic was a word.

A, of course an entire campaign was canned. And yes Transphobic is a word and has been for years and years. But maybe you aren’t following the trends here? This is what alladvertising people need to realise:

1. There are LOTS of transgender people. Ignore the conservative groups estimates of transsexuals, the likely baseline is at least 1 in 500 people but thats the tip of the iceberg. When you look at non-transsexual transgender we get a minimum of 3% estimate from the more conservative estimates in countries like America and a maximum of 20% in countries more tolerant. YES! a possible 20% of total human population! How’s that for an untapped market for advertising huh? Trans a large part of the Pink Dollar (even low estimates of transgender numbers are larger than the self-identified gay and lesbian population!) whose economic power has already been recognised by advertisers and marketers but they have mistakenly focussed on just the gay and lesbian part not realising any of the potential of the trans part of that!

2. Mainstream Acceptance. The galaxy poll on possible federal antidiscrimination legislation for example found 80% in favour with 40% strongly in favour while only 4% were strongly against! Pro-trans is a mainstream view outnumbering anti-trans more than 10-1. Where in the past Trans people were ostracised by their families and friends now they are embraced by them. See now why the ad got canned?

3. Significant Presence in existing markets. Clothing, makeup, haircare and hair-removal.. a very significant portion of these markets are transgender but are not yet targeted by advertising!

4. Cutting Edge. As the trans movement is getting increasing numbers to come out trans people are becoming a long-term growth market. Andrej Pejic is Australias new supermodel on the catwalks of the world, was listed in FHM’s 100 sexiest women readers poll and is a crossdresser!!! Mainstream magazines and newspapers are already taking notice. Closeted Trans expression has been a driving force within existing metrosexual fashion movements which has significantly increased many products ability to be sold to men vastly improving the advertising opportunities to men, this will only improve as the sex-appeal of trans people to both men and women becomes increasingly marketable.

5. Easy access to good publicity. While the increasing political power and social acceptance of transgender people will make transphobic ads a very bad idea especially with the pink-dollar impact from allied gay and lesbian groups risking a boycott not to mention the responses from trans peoples families and friends (after all lots of the complaints about the Libra ad came from non-trans women!) but ads that support the trans community instead get better cred within the entire pink-dollar community and the increasingly trans-accepting mainstream society.

Trans people can be marketed to and with, and should be. And the trend is only going to continue as more and more trans fashion models are appearing in magazines, trans actors and actresses increasing on tv, trans sex appeal being recognised. It’s really basic. Misstreat Trans and you’ll get a backlash and help other brands. Advertise well to Trans and you’ll be on the cutting edge of a growth market. Ignore Trans and your compeitiors will get your slice of the cake.

This is ridiculous! S/he’s not a transgender woman – s/he’s a drag queen.

D’uh!

Libra, funny ad, I enjoyed as per usual. People need to get over themselevs. I’m offended quite often but hey it’s just my opinion and I don’t feel the need to go around bringing other people down just because I don’t agree with them.

Good bye free-wrold, hello nanny state.

Paris, Drag is part of transgender. And this ad disrespects drag, transvestites, crossdressers, genderqueers, androgynes, the entirety of female-to-male spectrum transgender and all of transgender. As well as Intersex.

And i’d like a free world, a world where people like me don’t face 6 times the violence that cisgender (non-transgender) women face. And a world where ads don’t encourage the minority of bigots to disrespect us and treat us as less than equals. And i’m going to get my free world where everyone are equals.

Wonder how many sales Libra have lost as a result of disgruntled transgender & menopausal women?

@Bayne MacGregor – please prove to me that 20 per cent of the human population, 1.4 billion people, are transgender. Even possibly transgender.

How this advertisement is considered offensive is beyond belief. The advertisement is funny and not in a negative way.

Do we want a nanny state where all jokes in movies and advertisements are banned? I mean, how many stereotypical “blokes” are there in advertisements? Do we consider them offensive, not at all.

Also, @BayneMacGregor, are you really comparing this advertisement with the Minstrel Shows (and by extension the slave trade)? Please tell me you are not because the two are just not on the same level at all.

Bayne, a bit of disrespect and us all feeling outraged occasionally is the price we pay for living in a free society. I am often offended by ads stereotyping men, women, blondes, larger people, short people etc etc etc. However, I would rather be offended than live in a world which limits free expression.

I am flabbergasted about how quickly we have descended into a nanny-state.

In response:

Yes i am comparing it to the minstrel shows, because presently 46% of trans women in Queensland have been bashed and 38% assaulted with a weapon. Australia had minstrel shows well and trully after we had ended the Kanaka slave trade. source of violence stats is here http://www.abc.net.au/news/201.....nce/854028

Yes i listed 20% as a maximum, the minimum is 3% and thats just Australian schoolkids and not including those who discover they are trans in adulthood source Lof the 3% aTrobe Universities study most recent update to their 12-year study Writing Themselves In 3, source of the 20% is the bbc online article on the Thai school that put in a transgender toilet.

As for free expression it’s bordered by some legal limits and has been for generations. Libel, slander, hoaxing, fraud, vilification, racism… all limited for generations (maybe just one generation on racism). All this is is trans people demanding the same treatment people less misstreated already benefit from.

So you can either profit from the rise of transgender acceptance by the majority and their newfound political social and economic presence or you can lose out as you run affoul of fairness and equality like the bigots of past generations. It’s a pretty simple equation.

Someone needs to sit down and relax, it is not that serious to be honest.

Bullying is NEVER seen as a problem in the eyes of the bullies or their compatriots: “It was only a joke”, “You are taking things too seriously”, “You are misinterpreting what was said”, “Political correctness/nanny state gone mad” etc – these are all dismissive excuses for those who do not wish to think through the consequences of whatever the problem may be. There IS a problem and it is not with those who found the ad offensive.

As one person who drew a comparison between the Libra ad and the Black and White Minstrel shows, I stand by that comparison. Any time the dignity, equality or human rights of any group of people is mocked or disregarded, we should all surely find that offensive. Despite an assurance from the drag queen Sandee, the negative stereotypes and personality traits portrayed in the advertisement do not help anyone to take “one step closer to acceptance” – unless she wants to suggest that, like the minstrel shows, mere visibility (no matter how negative) is itself a step forward. (And if that’s really the case, wouldn’t the closet be better until the advertising world catches up with the 21st century?)

I commend the Libra executives for having the sensitivity to withdraw the advertising when they realised that there was a problem. Maybe they can work with the transgender and drag communities to rectify the campaign in a mutually respectful and dignified way. In the meantime, I just hope that some of the posters here, who express self-righteous indignation over the offense taken by others, might themselves learn an equal amount of empathy and sensitivity.

Geoff, how would you envisage this campaign being rectified? The posts I have read from the people who feel negatively impacted by it seems to indicate that any depiction of a cross-dresser/trans-gender person/trans-sexual would be offensive in some way to somebody (much like all advertising!). I am really interested to hear how you think this ad could work in a non-offensive way.

There’s only one thing to prove if it was successful or not……did it lift sales. Consumers talk with their wallets!!