Absolut Vodka

For over three decades now, Absolut have actively engaged in the LGBT community through focused marketing, creative collaborations, events, charities and sponsorships. Absolut is committed to equality, diversity and freedom of speech in all its forms. The vodka bottle sported its “No Labels” Ltd Edition and Rainbow cover. The brand have had creative collaborations with Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Tom Ford and more, were the main Sponsor of RuPaul’s Drag Race TV series from Season 1 – 5, supported same-sex marriage and formed a partnership with British director Paul Frankl to produce the short film Roxanne, which explores transgender topics.

Expedia / Visit Britain

Last year Expedia teamed up with VisitBritain to offer a romantic holiday and the campaign featured a interracial male couple. The Expedia website also features LGBT travel recommendations and tips, and they made a video in 2012 to support gay marriage. Expedia have also featured VisitBritain’s video, LOVE is Great Britain, on their website, which welcomes same-sex couples to the country.

Match.com

The dating website has seen an increase in the LGBT community visiting their site. This year, they released an advert which was based on highlighting loving your imperfections. Match.com believes that there is someone for everyone, and if you don’t love your imperfections, someone else will. #LoveYourImperfections

MTV

MTV.co.uk/life empowers young LGBT people by facilitating conversations around challenges affecting them, while mtvstayingalive.org partners with youth-led organisations worldwide to educate about HIV infection and prevention. To celebrate Pride 2015, an MTV Pride channel was launched, hosted by Drag Race judge Michelle Visage, to be the soundtrack to Pride weekend.

Newlon Housing Trust

Newlon Housing have been leading the way in affordable housing, which have included advertising campaigns targeted at gay people. In an effort to promote their developments as being inclusive of all, they have run campaigns in the LGBT press.

Sainsbury’s

Thumbs up to the supermarket giant for their Christmas advertising campaign. ‘The Pact’ television advert sees a gay couple who have arranged to visit both of their families on Christmas Day but, while desperately trying to stick to the game plan, fail after being unable to resist Sainsbury’s canapés. Family brands such as JC Penny in the USA and Tesco in the UK have previously come under fire for showing gay-themed adverts, so this was a brave move.

Tiffany & Co

In 2015, the luxury jeweller, Tiffany & Co launched their first TV ad and print advertising campaign which featured a man proposing marriage to another man. The advertisement, created by Ogilvy & Mather, features various couples asking their partner to marry them including a real-life gay couple and is the first time they have included a campaign of this type in nearly 200 years of trading. A spokesperson for the company said: “Nowadays, the road to marriage is no longer linear. True love can happen more than once with love stories coming in a variety of forms.”

W Hotels

The Starwood-owned hotel chain has been utilising global reach and helping equality by promoting its ‘Turn It Up for Change’ campaign. The campaign is backed by singer Jennifer Hudson, who released I Still Love You as part of the campaign, with the video ending in a father deciding to attend his son’s marriage to another man. The campaign also raises money for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).