A tweet with what appears to be a queer-aimed ad for Dr. Pepper is making the LGBTQ Twitter rounds, and people don’t like it.
On Wednesday, Twitter user @BarmyArny tweeted, “I think the fuck not,” with a picture of what looks like a magazine ad for the soda. In it, the top and bottom of a Dr. Pepper can are labeled as such—“top” and “bottom”—with the full front of the can labeled “vers,” which is gay slang for “versatile,” aka either a “top” or “bottom” during sex. The ad concludes: “A queer drink for diverse drinkers.”
https://twitter.com/BarmyArny/status/1027096118885273601
Responses from the LGBTQ community have been heavily mixed but lean on eye-rolls above all else.
https://twitter.com/TyronWilson/status/1027096899562692608
— Lola (@ItsLolaPhoenix) August 8, 2018
On the subreddit r/LGBT, people argued about whether or not the ad was good representation or disrespectful pandering. “I think appearance in adverts actually aids in normalisation, at least a little bit,” wrote one redditor. Another responded, “Except their goal isn’t to normalize anything, they don’t give a shit about us as long as we give them our money.” While some users saw the ad as harmless and funny, others said it reduces LGBTQ people to gay sex slang.
Equally up for debate is whether or not the advertisement is real. One redditor linked to a post on the Dr. Pepper Sweden Facebook page as evidence, but it has since been taken down. The original poster of the image said in replies that he found it in a Swedish gay magazine, but didn’t specify which one. The Daily Dot reached out to @BarmyArny for more information and he has not yet responded.
The Daily Dot also spoke to Dr. Pepper regarding the ad, but the brand, represented by Keurig in North America, was not able to comment on this, or any advertising done internationally, as it would be done by different companies.
Hoax or not, the ad has certainly earned its place in the hall of fame for weird attempts to advertise to the LGBTQ community.
H/T Paper Mag
