It wasn’t too long ago that showing anything but heterosexual romance in advertising was considered taboo for many marketers—and on the rare occasion that an ad did portray openly LGBTQ+ individuals, backlash was often significant. But a new report from the Association of National Advertisers suggests that such sentiments are changing in the ad industry.

Half of the marketers surveyed by the ANA said that they had run at least one ad over the past year that featured identifiable LGBTQ+ cast members, according to the “LGBTQ+ Marketing Inclusion” report published today. The report defined LGBTQ+ casting as including the portrayal of same-sex couples, celebrities who identify as LGBTQ+ and/or  LGBTQ+ social settings. 

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In addition, 4-in-10 respondents reported appealing directly to LGBTQ+ consumers for at least one brand in 2021, with at least 96% of that subset doing so with the year-round deployment of LGBTQ+ media.

The study included just 70 client-side marketers, and lacks historical data for comparison. Still, it suggests a positive trend of inclusion across different sexual orientations and gender identities. “If this survey was taken 20 years ago, or even 10, the results would look quite different, with LGBTQ+ casting much lower,” the report said.

“The results of this survey are encouraging because they demonstrate marketers’ genuine support for the LGBTQ+ community. Inclusion and equity are at the very heart of any diversity discussion,” said Bob Liodice, CEO of the ANA.

ANA’s survey also highlighted what marketers view as the biggest challenge to LGBTQ+ marketing. 

Half of the marketers cited a general concern that they’ll get LGBTQ+ communities’ on-screen portrayal wrong. And 44% pointed to “budget limitations” as a reason preventing them from LGBTQ+-inclusive marketing, with the same percentage of respondents also highlighting concerns about their messages appearing in brand-safe environments.

Slightly under one-third of respondents pointed to blowback from consumers as a challenge in pursuing equitable LGBTQ+ representation in their ads.

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And while almost every participant agreed that LGBTQ+ portrayals in advertising have become more common over the past three years, 54% also believe that too many corporations engage in “rainbow-washing,” which the report describes as "when a brand purports to support the LGBTQ+ community and puts rainbow colors and/or LGBTQ+ imagery in advertising and products in hopes of increasing LGBTQ+ sales, but without a tangible effort to support the community." 

“One thing we can do is encourage clients to take meaningful actions, beyond June,” Sarah Garman, group strategy director at Droga5, told Ad Age.

From the NFL to the Norwegian postal service, brands of all shapes and sizes (and verticals) have taken to engaging the LGBTQ+ via advertising in recent years, and that inclusion is now measurable. For example, less than 2% of ad submissions at the 2019 Cannes Lions featured LGBTQ+ actors, while nearly 10% of ads were inclusive at this summer’s event.

The ANA’s “LGBTQ+ Marketing Inclusion” report also made a handful of recommendations to the advertising industry at large on how to improve their representation of and standing with non-heterosexual communities, including having a diverse range of sexual orientations on your marketing team and partnering with LGBTQ+ nonprofits.