Michael Wilke
Michael Wilke is an American journalist known for covering advertising, marketing and media business – particularly LGBTQ+ representations in advertising.[1] [2]
He worked at ''Ad Age''[3] from 1994 to 1998, covering industries including pharmaceuticals and the rise of direct-to-consumer drug advertising[4], airlines[5], food[6], outdoor[7] and radio media [8] but became particularly known for his coverage of LGBTQ+ issues[9] [10] and later as the founder of Commercial Closet Association and AdRespect[11].
"Gay vague" was a term coined by Wilke[12][13] in 1997 and first published in Ad Age[14][15][16] about the ambiguity of the relationship of two men who transported a chair in their hatchback for a Volkswagen Golf commercial known as "Da, Da, Da" for its song [17]. The "gay vague" term was originally used to describe advertising that ambiguously may or may not be intended to suggest an LGBTQ+ person but were particularly read by LGBTQ+ audiences that way. Later, Subaru published billboards featuring LGBTQ+ coded license plates that said "XENA-LVR" and "P-TOWNIE."[18][19] and the term was applied to advertisers covertly speaking to LGBTQ+ audiences or implying gayness with a wink.[20][21]
He launched Commercial Closet in 2001[22] and AdRespect[23] in 2012.
In 2004, Wilke served as a Hearst Professional-in-Residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder.[24]
Early life
Wilke grew up in New York City and is a native of Kansas City, Missouri[25].
He is a graduate of New York City's School of Visual Arts communication arts program[26] and Baruch College (City University of New York) Zicklin School of Business Marketing program.
References
- ↑ "ADS COME OUT". Courant.com. Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "ChicagoTribune". ChicagoTribune.com. The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Kumar, Aparna. "Commercials: Out of the Closet". Wired.com. Wired. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Terzian, Tamar V. "Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising". Cambridge.org. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "Kiwi International Airlines Inc. History". FundingUniverse.com. Funding Universe. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Parcell, Lisa Mullikin. "Fleischmann's "Yeast for Health:" A Cure for Boils, Acne, Constipation, and Plummeting Sales". https://www.tandfonline.com/. American Journalism. Retrieved 2025-05-15. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ Kirby, David. "NEW YORKERS & CO.; Trial Balloons". NYTimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Wilke, Michael. "RADIO TUNES IN TO FRESH IDEAS NEW FORMATS, TALK SHOW HOSTS ADD SOME VARIETY TO AIRWAVES". AdAge.com. Advertising Age. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "Michael Wilke: Making The Ad World Safe For Gays". TVWeek.com. TV Week. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Schweinsberg, Christie (5 April 2004). "Wilke: Tailored Advertisements Best When Targeting Gay Consumer". WardsIntelligence.Informa.com. Wards Intelligence. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Dong, Chris. "Who are the Delta gays? How the airline became a haven for the LGBTQ community". AOL.com. AOL. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Elliott, Stuart (30 June 1997). "Homosexual imagery is spreading from print campaigns to general-interest TV programming". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "Queerbaiting And Fandom: Teasing Fans Through Homoerotic Possibilities [PDF]". VDOC.pub. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ O’Barr, William M. "Multiculturalism in the Marketplace: Targeting Latinas, African-American Women, and Gay Consumers". muse.jhu.edu/. Project Muse. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Telford, Taylor. "How queer went corporate: The 50-year evolution of LGBTQ+ marketing". Washington Post.
- ↑ Klara, Robert (17 June 2013). "Gay Advertising's Long March Out of the Closet". Adweek.com. Adweek. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "Skip navigation Search Create 1 Avatar image Volkswagen - Da Da Da (1997)". YouTube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Alsop, Ronald. "Cracking the Gay Market Code: Marketers Plant Symbols in Ads". WSJ.com. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Mayyasi, Alex (23 May 2016). "How an Ad Campaign Made Lesbians Fall in Love with Subaru". priceonomics.com/. Priceonomics. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "Ads aim marketing at gay audience: Moving past "gay vague"". DenverPost.com. Denver Post. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Fottrell, Quentin. "Why Amazon's new ad is a game changer". Marketwatch.com. MarketWatch. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Mand, Adrienne. "Site for gay ads debuts". AdAge.com. Ad Age. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Stiffler, Scott (4 January 2020). "Absolut Vodka at vanguard of LGBTQ engagement". losangelesblade.com. Los Angeles Blade. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "Hearst Professional-in-Residence". Colorado.edu. University of Colorado-Boulder. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Fischer, Annie (14 October 2004). "The Ad Guys". thePitchKC.com. The Pitch. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "4930 VAJ spring03 FC/IFC/BC/IBC - Daniel Kitae Um" (PDF). UmcreatedDev.com. Visual Arts Journal, School of Visual Arts Magazine, Spring 2005. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
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