Subaru Case Study - The Arthur Page Society

• License plate: XENA LVR – a reference to the popularity of the television
program Xena: Warrior Princess within the lesbian community at the time
3. Car #3 has a blue Human Rights Campaign (HRC) equality sticker on the bumper.
• License plate: P TOWNIE – stands for Provincetown, a popular gay and lesbian
vacation destination in Massachusetts
The ad copy referenced Subaru’s support of the gay and lesbian communities, specifically the
HRC and Rainbow Endowment sponsorships. The campaign was featured in gay print media as
well as on buses and billboards in the gay neighborhoods of select U.S. cities, 131 such as
Washington DC’s Dupont Circle. 132 Echoing earlier sentiment of Subaru’s covert gay and
lesbian marketing efforts, in response to the coded imagery, Bennett articulated, “It’s sort of like
our little secret. It’s clever and not offensive, and if you’re in-the-know, you chuckle.” 133
During Subaru’s “Get out and stay out” campaign, assumingly heterosexual online
message board posters offered their opinions about being associated with an automotive
company that marketed to gays and lesbians: “They can call my car gay, but they will be looking
pretty dumb when my ‘gay’ car blows their doors off,” and “Got mad for a while after that show
aired. Made me very pissed for some dumb-ass to call my car gay.” Bennett responded by noting
the overall success of the campaign and the fact that feedback of this sort had had a minimal
impact, at best. 134 Nearly one year after the incident, Bennett elaborated on negativity received
from consumers and non-consumers alike: “Look, we know that our owner base and our
consumers are extremely well educated, and they celebrate diversity. A person who would be
offended by our advertising probably would not have bought our car anyway.” 135
Acknowledging the fact that many gay and lesbian couples have children, Subaru started
advertising in a new gay and lesbian-targeted magazine called Alternative Family in 2000. 136
During this time, Subaru extended same-sex domestic partnership benefits to its employees. 137 In
2001, Subaru crossed over into mainstream publications by running ads in Movieline geared
toward gay and lesbian consumers. Similarly, in the December 2003 issue of Vanity Fair, which
profiled gay and lesbian television entertainers, Subaru strategically targeted gay and lesbian
consumers once again using mainstream media. 138 In referencing the company’s 2003
partnership with Lance Armstrong, Bennett characterized Subaru’s advertiser attributes as
“freedom, adventure, free-thinking, independent spirit.” 139 Yet, the attributes clearly extend
beyond Subaru’s mainstream marketing efforts.
When other automotive companies began advertising in gay media in the early 2000s,
particularly Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo, Subaru was surprised the competition had waited so
long to do so. Offering insight to his competitors, Bennett warned, “You can’t be a poser or
pretender. This is a very sophisticated, intelligent market - not all that different from other niche
markets we market to - so we probably have a leg up on the competition in that regard.” 140
SPONSORING GAY AND LESBIAN EVENTS
In conjunction with its advertising efforts, Subaru became an early sponsor of gay pride
events at both the dealership and corporate levels, beginning with the donation of a Subaru for
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