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Men's Vogue Refused to Publish Ad with Gay Couple Kissing

by Amy Judd | September 2, 2009 at 02:04 pm

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Juergen Teller, a famous photographer who has shot many ads for Marc Jacobs, including a spread of 12-year-old Dakota Fanning, and one where he was grabbing Cindy Sherman's breasts. But he talks for the first time about how his most controversial ad spread was not any of the above, but one of a gay couple kissing.

"Funnily enough the most complaints were about the series with Dick Page and James Gibbs because they are a gay couple. Men’s Vogue even refused to publish it. Dick is a very close friend of mine and I’ve known him for 20 years — he’s been part of the Marc family for 20 years. And I like the idea of having a gay couple in a men’s ad because it makes sense. And I wanted the ads to be like they are — very romantic, tender and sweet. I certainly didn’t want to have anything provocative, not at all."

This seems to be a strange decision for most, because Men's Vogue prided themselves on being forward thinking for men, and they never marketed themselves as a magazine for beer drinking, football loving men to buy. However, their refusal to print an ad of this nature suggests they were not willing to that progressive.

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Roy C

at 18:39 on September 2nd, 2009

"However, their refusal to print an ad of this nature suggests they were not willing to that progressive" or suicidal.

Believe it or not, heterosexual men identify with being heterosexual and putting a couple of men kissing in the magazine changes the tenor of the magazine and you lose readers, even readers who support gay rights.

If I buy a magazine about fashion and most of it, the greater part of it, is not my taste, then I won't buy the magazine again.

Heterosexuality and homosexuality are tastes in the realm of sexuality, though not just tastes, of course.