Racing after gay consumers
General Motors may be behind the curve when it comes to building cars people actually want to buy. But it's on the cutting edge when it comes to selling to one specific demographic group. Kyle Norris reports.
Two men talk while sitting in a Saturn Sky at Detroit's Motor City Pride festival, where General Motors sponsored a gay speed-dating event. (Kyle Norris)
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KAI RYSSDAL: Alright, so maybe General Motors is behind the curve when it comes to building cars people actually want to buy. But it's on the cutting edge when it comes to selling to one specific demographic. Kyle Norris reports from Detroit.
KYLE NORRIS: On the one hand, gay people are a marketer's dream. That's what Joe LaMuraglia says. He's publisher of GayWheels.com.
Joe LaMuraglia: You've got a very high disposable income, a very strong buying power. You have a loyalty factor that most people would kill for.
That buying power is expected to exceed $835 billion within the next three years. And car manufacturers are paying attention. But they're doing so in interesting ways.
Announcer: Let's start your 4-minute speed date. The speed-dating has started. Four minutes. Make it happen. Have fun.
Here at Detroit's Motor City Pride festival, GM is sponsoring a gay speed-dating event. Couples sit inside parked GM cars and make small talk. And let me say, these cars are sweet. They include a Saturn Vue, a Saab 9-3 convertible, and a Cadillac Escalade.
The speed-daters said they definitely noticed that GM sponsored this event. OK, some were a little more focused on their love matches. But speed-dater Keisha Knight says the whole car thing was cool.
Keisha KNIGHT: Actually, the cars are like ultra sexy. I want to take this one home. I don't know if they'll let me drive off with it, but if they will, I'll take it.
And that's exactly what GM wants to hear. Adam Bernard is the chairman of GM Plus, the company's resource group for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender employees. He says GM did its homework.
Adam Bernard: One thing we found in our research is that gay consumers are more likely to buy from a company whose employee practices are positive and supportive of workplace equality. And so that's one of the reasons before we went marketing to the consumer we made sure all our internal policies were in place. 'Cause then it's kind of hypocritical. If you don't treat gay employees fairly, then to ask for gay consumers to buy your cars is just rude!
So GM and other car manufacturers offers its employees things like domestic-partner benefits. Bernard thinks sponsorship of the speed-dating event shows GM values gay people as equals. But still, it's a complicated relationship.
Joe LaMuraglia says manufacturers understand the positives from a business perspective.
And that fear of backlash is based in reality. In 2006, Ford placed ads in a gay magazine and got hit with a very public boycott from a Christian organization called The American Family Association.LaMuraglia: But then there's the emotional side of things where people go, "Oh, whoa! What's gay? I'm not gay!" If we advertise in a gay market does that make us a gay brand? Will that alienate the other people that buy our products?
So today manufacturers are reaching out to gay consumers in more subtle ways. Toyota is doing it from the inside out, with a gay-employee resource group. And Ford is promoting one of the designers of its new Ford Flex to the gay media.
Through these subtle campaigns, car companies ultimately hope to prove their gay street-cred and connect with a group of consumers ready and willing to spend a whole lot of cash.
In Detroit, I'm Kyle Norris for Marketplace.
Comments
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From moraga, CA, 07/14/2008
hi, on the whole I am glad that GM is interested in the gay community. Ultimately though companies (GM included) will have to decide that if they want to achieve top sales they will have to openly interact with us, not campaigns on the "sly". It also wouldn't hurt if they built cars as good as honda and toyota. Sorry but economy, reliability, longevity are not buzzwords.
paul. (Gay American client)
From Detroit, MI, 07/09/2008
As a gay person, I find that label to be appropriate. I have no problem being identified as such. My sexual orientation serves as a major (if nonessential) part of my identity, a part that I am proud of and wear on my sleeve.
I AM incensed, however, at the reporters' uncritical presentation of the queer population (read LGBT etc...) as a homogenous bloc of gay/lesbian consumers.
Implicit in such an assumption is that the very small minority of queers who are rich, white, assimilated, and strictly gay or lesbian make up the majority of the queer population; thus, serving as a group of people who can be marketed too. The reality is that queers make up a disporportionate number of those who are homeless, living in poverty, and suffer from psychological illnesses. A far more important reality is that queers of color exist, and are not always a part of that "marketable" group living in gay suburbs (like Ferndale which hosted Motor City Pride) and gentrified urban colonies across the United States.
I attended Motor City Pride and noticed that there were almost no blacks there, despite Ferndale being directly adjacent to a city of nearly 800,000 blacks and a suburb of around 40,000. It was evident throughout the event that the corporate presence at Pride alienates a very large number of queers of color, mostly living in Detroit only one mile away with their own rich cultural practices and community.
Stories like this perpetuate the stereotype that queers are all gays and lesbians, have great taste, are rich, and live "fabulous" lives as a market share that corporations can tap into. This may be true for a small minority, but by universalizing this stereotype the majority of queers, not just queers of color, are rendered invisible to the broader society. This invisibility justifies the lack of social support for teens on the verge of suicide (the majority of youth suicides are committed by LGBT/queer youth), AIDS research, comprehensive AIDS and sex education, and targeted homelessness initiatives addressing the unique problems of LGBT youth.
I rely on the public media for news that isn't mired in stereotypical representations, stories that are not told from the perspectives of major world corporations but from critical observers, and for a progressive interpretation of what is going on in the world. This story disappointed me as it was something I would have expected to see on Yahoo! news or the Today show. I hope to see better (including more honest representations of vulnerable populations) in the future.
From Chicago, IL, 07/08/2008
During yesterday's report "Racing after gay consumers" I kept hearing you say "gay people..", though am not gay myself, I found this phase un-settling. They are People who are gay, I am a special educator and I have worked hard to have people refer to my students or people as "students/people with disabilities". So, just like that, I think the correct way should of been "people who are gay" they are people first along with everyone else.
Is this correct? I've got a degree in special education not grammer, so I may be wrong, if so I apologize:) Thanks for all your wonderful work.
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