GAY MARKETING: Opportunity or Nightmare for Firms

This study investigated young adults’ attitudes towards homosexuality and perceptions of gay marketing based on data acquired through a survey questionnaire that included a total of 64 items on demographics and life experiences, attitude towards homosexuality and perceptions of gay marketing administered to 402 students at a private university in Turkey of both sexes aged 18 to 28. Findings suggest that young adults hold negative attitudes towards homosexuality, ranging from moderately negative to strongly negative, and generally with no significant differences by the respondents’ parents’ education, respondents’ political view or acquaintance with any homosexual person or level of exposure to gay themed advertisements. Female respondents hold slightly more negative attitudes towards homosexuality than male respondents do. A factor analytic method revealed three major components of young adults’ perceptions of gay marketing which could be named subjective perceptions (SP), perceptions of marketing strategies (MS) and opinion on moral consequences (MC). Results are discussed with the limitations of the study, and implications for marketers.