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Gay Teen Love the Focus of New Coca-Cola Short from Dustin Lance Black: WATCH
A new short film and advertisement called “The Text”, written and directed by Dustin Lance Black for Coca-Cola, centers on bullying and two gay teens in love.
Black was recruited by Coca-Cola to direct three shorts for the company to air in Latin America that challenge young people to choose compassion over bullying. As Black told AdWeek, one of the s was specifically “aimed at the LGBT community.” The intent Black says was to show “a crossroads moment where you’ve got to make a decision: Are you going to go the way of kindness, or are you going to go for the easy joke when someone’s having a tough time?” The moral being that, “If you do something with acceptance and kindness, you can create a true friendship.”
As for how the LGBT community responded to the short thus far, Black said,
“The response in the LGBT community to “The Text” was remarkable. I heard from one of the heads at the ABC network about how much it moved her. I heard from Cleve Jones, one of the leaders of the LGBT movement, about how much it moved him. And these aren’t people I sent it to. They found it, which I find remarkable, since it’s in Portuguese on the Internet. For Coca-Cola to take a pro-diversity, pro-equality stance creates a lot of goodwill in the LGBT community. It’s heartwarming for the LGBT community to see that a global brand would embrace this community because, let’s be honest, there are places in the world that know about Coca-Cola where it is still a death sentence to be gay.”
As for the cynics and critics, Black views this short as an opportunity to “move the needle”:
“Some…are very critical of what the intent of the brand [Coca-Cola] might have been. And I say, “Yes, their intent was to win a market, and their intent was to sell their product.” My intent was to send the message that diversity is a good thing and LGBT people and their families deserve respect and love. Well, I’m not going to skip an opportunity to send a pro-equality message just because they’re selling a product alongside it.”
Watch the short, below:
The post Gay Teen Love the Focus of New Coca-Cola Short from Dustin Lance Black: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Sean Mandell
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