This ad is HOT, and well..very GAY.

This happens to me ALL the time.
Originally uploaded by EdnPHX.

While in San Francisco, my friend Paul (the Ambassador of San Francisco) and I ran downstairs from our office and grabbed a Starbucks to shake off the morning blahs. As many of you know, I travel to SF a lot for work. After we grabbed our morning cup of ambition, we stopped by a newsstand where Paul said “You’ve got to see this new D&G ad in the current issue of GQ.” I was sort of confused as to what he said, probably because I didn’t have the caffeine pumping through my veins from the cup of joe I had in my hands. Paul discreetly pulled out a copy of GQ from the row of magazines and quickly turned to the 5-page D&G ad. My mouth just about dropped to the floor. Was I looking at the newest issue of Playgirl or XY? As we paged through the ad, I couldn’t believe this was in GQ. (You know, because GQ is a “straight” magazine and all. No one would EVER guess that there are ANY homoerotic undertones to that magazine, ESPECIALLY since only total STRAIGHT guys read GQ and they do NOT cater to ANY gay clientele AT ALL. Yea, whatever.) Anyway, the Ambassador pulled out the $5.99 and bought the magazine, where I instead opted for the current issue of Vanity Fair, as it had my “Number 2” (out of the top 10 guys I’d sleep with in the world…a fantasy, of course) guy Tom Ford on the cover. You got to love Tom Ford…they guy is sexy beyond belief. (But, I digress….)

So today I was bored surfing the net this morning and decided to see if I could pull up pics of those ads. I came across the D&G website and found that they had an actual screensaver with all of the ads. (For those of you who’d like to see, just click here and search for it on the site.) Again, I was quite amazed at the boldness of the ad campaign. I think they took the idea from Abercrombie and Fitch, but made it a little more mature (they boys have grown up a bit….post college maybe late 20’s 30’s kinda thing) and a little more direct. Now honestly, when was the last time you stood there with a “friend” over a naked guy looking down at him in a room full of other hot guys? (Don’t answer that question some of you…) Not very realistic. But definitely a fantasy. (Those men are going to tear that guy into two…..or at least that’s what the pic says.) A picture IS worth a thousand words, you know.

Anyway, I started to laugh after looking more in depth at the pictures. I thought to myself, “Gee…these pics are SO unrealistic….there are like NO Asian guys in these pics!” I have this blatant stereotype burned in my head of slightly overweight Asian “bois” wearing overly tight “extra small” black D&G wear frolicking around a crowded bar with a cranberry vodka in hand. Honestly, when was the last time you saw a hot Italian guy wearing D&G? Maybe in Italy, but not in the US (Aside from the occasional sighting in NYC.)

But, at the end of the day, these ads are quite good. They definitely provoke emotion and stare (whether good or bad). And, the ads definitely have gotten some press. Would it make me buy D&G? Not really. (Do I look Asian to you?) Now, if we were talking Armani, well, that’s another blog entry.