bank celebrates existence of gays

By BtM Reporter

July 25, 2006: Nedbank has been extolled recently by a gay advocacy media group, Gays Equitable Media (GEM) for the bank’s bold steps to include and portray gays in a positive light in its television home loan advert.

The advert features a gay couple mutually supporting each other on a home loan they received from the bank.

“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 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, when the one says “mi casa” and the other one complements responding that, “su casa” meaning ‘my house, your house’.

Directed by Benjamin McGowan of Terraplane production company, the TV commercial was made on the behalf of Nedbank to address and curb the omni-present prejudices and discriminations against homosexuals.

Senior Marketing Manager at Nedbank Nina Wellsted says; “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.