Closeup's Bold Stand: When Corporate Courage Meets LGBTQ+ Rights
In a nation where faith and tradition deeply shape social discourse, a simple billboard advertisement has sparked a profound conversation about love, acceptance, and corporate responsibility. The viral resurgence of Closeup's 2024 "Close the Gap" campaign, featuring a real-life gay couple at the C5-Kalayaan interchange, has divided Filipino society once again.
The Familiar Pattern of Conditional Acceptance
The reaction was swift and predictable. Religious groups condemned the advertisement, online commentators weaponized pronouns to ridicule what they termed "transformers," and moral outrage flooded social media platforms. The message, though unspoken, resonated clearly: love is welcome in the Philippines, but only when it remains invisible.
This pattern of conditional acceptance is not new to Philippine advertising. Scholars have documented how brands carefully navigate gay-themed content to avoid backlash from heterosexual audiences. The 2015 Bench Valentine campaign "Love All Kinds of Love" exemplified this cautious approach, presenting a lesbian couple so restrainedly that they could have been mistaken for close friends.
Progress and Fragility
While the Philippines has made significant strides toward LGBTQIA+ equality in recent years, incidents like this expose the fragile nature of that progress. A decade after similar controversies, we find ourselves witnessing the same moral panic over a remarkably tame advertisement featuring no grand gestures of intimacy.
The exhausting narrative persists: LGBTQIA+ Filipinos are consistently framed as entitled individuals demanding special treatment. Yet they seek nothing more than what heterosexual citizens already possess: the freedom to exist openly, love visibly, and receive dignified treatment regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC).
Corporate Courage in Action
What distinguishes Closeup's response is its refusal to retreat when confronted with bigotry. This isn't merely "wokeness" or performative allyship. The brand's decision to maintain visibility represents genuine corporate courage in a society that consistently tells queer people, "We love you, but stay hidden."
More importantly, Closeup extended its commitment beyond symbolism. The company announced the inclusion of free HIV self-testing kits in its toothpaste boxes, addressing stigma while contributing to urgent public health conversations around rising HIV cases in the Philippines. This tangible action demonstrates what scholars call genuine allyship, requiring concrete measures rather than mere brand aesthetics.
The Cost of Visibility
Such corporate decisions carry real consequences. Choosing inclusivity often means losing consumers and inviting backlash. Yet Closeup's willingness to accept these costs signals something rare in Philippine business culture: a commitment to values that transcends profit margins.
This visibility matters profoundly for young Filipinos struggling with their identity. In a society that demands conformity to rigid norms, seeing authentic representation in mainstream advertising can mean the difference between self-acceptance and self-denial.
Moving Forward
While one advertisement cannot eliminate discrimination, it does contribute to a broader conversation about acceptance in Philippine society. As the nation continues balancing traditional values with evolving social consciousness, corporate leadership in promoting inclusivity becomes increasingly significant.
For the countless Filipino youth quietly observing these cultural battles, Closeup's stand offers something invaluable: proof that visibility and authenticity remain possible, even when society prefers silence.
The author, Noel Sajid I. Murad, serves as assistant professor in the Department of Marketing and Advertising at De La Salle University and director for research of the Philippine Association for Communication and Media Research, Inc.