Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

LGBT-Inclusive Representation in Entertainment Products and Its Market Response: Evidence from Field and Lab

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A growing body of business ethics research has shown that firms are beginning to embrace the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community with internal organizational policies and temporary activism activities. Despite these positive developments, little research has examined firms’ LGBT inclusion strategy at the product level and whether adding LGBT representation to products helps, hurts, or has no impact on corporate products’ market performance. Prior studies have examined LGBT-themed and LGBT-vague representations and identified limitations of both. The current research presents an alternative LGBT-inclusive representation in which heterosexual and LGBT imagery are both presented, with the former receiving more exposure than the latter. A secondary analysis of 4216 movies and a controlled experiment reveal converging evidence: movies with LGBT-inclusive representation outperform those with no LGBT representation or with LGBT-themed representation. The superiority of LGBT-inclusive representation comes from its ability to appeal to consumer segments holding favorable and unfavorable LGBT attitudes. While cultural and entertainment products often play profound roles in changing society’s ethical standards and moral attitudes, they are rarely studied in the business ethics literature. Our findings fill this gap while answering a multimillion-dollar question for the entertainment industry.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Advertising research has addressed imagery representations of other minority groups such as racial, ethnic, and religious minorities (e.g., Sierra, Hyman, and Heiser 2012). LGBT imagery representation is one type of minority imagery representation.

  2. When several main characters share similar screen time and prominence in a show, each of them is considered a supporting character instead of a lead character. For example, the main characters in Modern Family were consistently nominated for Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress at the Emmy Awards.

  3. From 2007 to 2014, there were 50,000 + movies on www.imdb.com and 4000 + movies on www.boxofficemojo.com.

  4. LGBT-Themed and LGBT-Inclusive are mutually exclusive: if a movie had LGBT-lead characters and LGBT supporting characters, we coded it as an LGBT-themed movie because the movie used LGBT-themed representation.

  5. The original list we conceived was more symmetrical and contained nine additional keywords including bisexual lead character, bisexual relationship, bisexual kiss, lesbian character, transgender kiss, transgender character, transgender lead character, transgender relationship, and transgender interest. However, these keywords did not appear in any of the 4,216 movies and were thus removed from the list.

  6. In Study 2, we used LGBT-lead vs. LGBT-supporting characters as a convenient way to manipulate LGBT-themed vs. LGBT-inclusive representation because lead characters have more exposure than supporting characters in a movie. This manipulation introduced minimal edits to the plots and hence ensured a cleaner test of causality. A more heavy-handed manipulation of the plots would have introduced other variations and made it harder to attribute the effect to LGBT. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that this manipulation was not perfect. In Study 1, we pointed out that not all movies with an LGBT-lead character were necessarily LGBT-themed. If the LGBT-lead character’s sexual orientation was tangential to the main storyline, the movie should be considered an LGBT-inclusive movie. Fortunately, the stimulus in Study 2 was a romance movie. Unlike other genres, the central theme of a romance movie is the romantic relationship of the lead character(s). We could therefore conveniently manipulate the movie’s theme (e.g., gay romantic relationship) by simply manipulating the lead character’s sexual orientation (e.g., gay).

References

  • Aiyar, A., & Venugopal, S. (2020). Addressing the ethical challenge of market inclusion in Base-of-the-Pyramid markets: A macromarketing approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 164(2), 243–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antioco, M., Vanhamme, J., Hardy, A., & Bernardin, L. (2012). On the importance of social integration for minority targeting effectiveness. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(4), 380–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basuroy, S., Chatterjee, S., & Ravid, S. A. (2003). How critical are critical reviews? The box office effects of film critics, star power, and budgets. Journal of Marketing, 67(4), 103–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhat, S., Leigh, T. W., & Wardlow, D. L. (1998). The effect of consumer prejudices on ad processing: Heterosexual consumers’ responses to homosexual imagery in ads. Journal of Advertising, 27(4), 9–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biktimirov, E. N., & Cyr, D. (2013). Using Inside Job to teach business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 117(1), 209–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boehe, D. M., & Luciano, B. C. (2010). Corporate social responsibility, product differentiation strategy and export performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 91(2), 325–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Z., & Berger, J. (2013). When, why, and how controversy causes conversation. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(3), 580–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chintrakarn, P., Treepongkaruna, S., Jiraporn, P., & Lee, S. M. (2020). Do LGBT-supportive corporate policies improve credit ratings? An instrumental-variable analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 162(1), 31–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coffman, K. B., Coffman, L. C., & Ericson, K. M. M. (2017). The size of the LGBT population and the magnitude of antigay sentiment are substantially underestimated. Management Science, 63(10), 3168–3186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crane, A., & Ruebottom, T. (2011). Stakeholder theory and social identity: Rethinking stakeholder identification. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(1), 77–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dotson, M. J., Hyatt, E. M., & Petty Thompson, L. (2009). Sexual orientation and gender effects of exposure to gay- and lesbian-themed fashion advertisements. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 13(3), 431–447. https://doi.org/10.1108/13612020910974537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eilert, M., & Abigail, N. C. (2020). The activist company: Examining a company’s pursuit of societal change through corporate activism using an institutional theoretical lens. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 39(4), 461–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisend, M., & Hermann, E. (2019). Consumer responses to homosexual imagery in advertising: A meta-analysis. Journal of Advertising, 48(4), 380–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Escalas, J. E., & Bettman, J. R. (2005). Self-construal, reference groups, and brand meaning. Journal of Consumer Research, 32(3), 378–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gerde, V. W., & Foster, R. S. (2008). X-Men ethics: Using comic books to teach business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 77(3), 245–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghaziani, A., Taylor, V., & Stone, A. (2016). Cycles of sameness and difference in LGBT social movements. Annual Review of Sociology, 42, 165–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ginder, W., Kwon, W.-S., & Byun, S.-E. (2021). Effects of internal–external congruence-based CSR positioning: An attribution theory approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 169(2), 355–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • GLAAD-Media-Institute (2019). Where we are on TV 2018–2019. Retrieved from https://www.glaad.org/whereweareontv18.

  • Grier, S. A., & Brumbaugh, A. M. (1999). Noticing cultural differences: Ad meanings created by target and non-target markets. Journal of Advertising, 28(1), 79–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haas, A. P., Eliason, M., Mays, V. M., Mathy, R. M., Cochran, S. D., D’Augelli, A. R., … & Rosario, M. (2010). Suicide and suicide risk in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations: Review and recommendations. Journal of Homosexuality, 58(1), 10–51.

  • Hayes, A. F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herek, G. M., & Capitanio, J. P. (1999). Sex differences in how heterosexuals think about lesbians and gay men: Evidence from survey context effects. The Journal of Sex Research, 36(4), 348–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hester, J. B., & Gibson, R. (2007). Consumer responses to gay-themed imagery in advertising. Advertising & Society Review, 8(2), 48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hossain, M., Atif, M., Ahmed, A., & Mia, L. (2020). Do LGBT workplace diversity policies create value for firms? Journal of Business Ethics, 167(4), 775–791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyman, M. R., Tansey, R., & Clark, J. W. (1994). Research on advertising ethics: Past, present, and future. Journal of Advertising, 23(3), 5–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone, M.-L., & Tan, L. P. (2015). Exploring the gap between consumers’ green rhetoric and purchasing behaviour. Journal of Business Ethics, 132(2), 311–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lash, M. T., & Zhao, K. (2016). Early predictions of movie success: The who, what, and when of profitability. Journal of Management Information Systems, 33(3), 874–903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lenoir, A.-S.I., Puntoni, S., Reed, A., II., & Verlegh, P. W. (2013). The impact of cultural symbols and spokesperson identity on attitudes and intentions. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 30(4), 426–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levins, H. (2007). Gay and straight versions of same TV commercial produced. Advertising Age, 18(2), 133–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lozano, J. F., & Escrich, T. (2017). Cultural diversity in business: A critical reflection on the ideology of tolerance. Journal of Business Ethics, 142(4), 679–696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mccarthy, J. (2021). Record-high 70% in U.S. support same-sex marriage. Gallup. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/poll/350486/record-high-support-same-sex-marriage.aspx.

  • Minton, E. A., Tan, S. J., Tambyah, S. K., & Liu, R. L. (2020). Drivers of sustainability and consumer well-being: An ethically-based examination of religious and cultural values. Journal of Business Ethics., 175(1), 167–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moon, S., Bergey, P. K., & Iacobucci, D. (2010). Dynamic effects among movie ratings, movie revenues, and viewer satisfaction. Journal of Marketing, 74(1), 108–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moorman, C. (2020). Commentary: Brand activism in a political world. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 39(4), 388–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oakenfull, G. (2012). Gay consumers and brand usage: The gender-flexing role of gay identity. Psychology & Marketing, 29(12), 968–979.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oakenfull, G. K., & Greenlee, T. B. (2005). Queer eye for a gay guy: Using market-specific symbols in advertising to attract gay consumers without alienating the mainstream. Psychology & Marketing, 22(5), 421–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oakenfull, G. K., McCarthy, M. S., & Greenlee, T. B. (2008). Targeting a minority without alienating the majority: Advertising to gays and lesbians in mainstream media. Journal of Advertising Research, 48(2), 191–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oakenfull, G. W. (2013). What matters: Factors influencing gay consumers’ evaluations of “gay-friendly” corporate activities. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 32(1), 79–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Boyle, E. J., & Sandonà, L. (2014). Teaching business ethics through popular feature films: An experiential approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(3), 329–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orosz, G., Bánki, E., Bőthe, B., Tóth-Király, I., & Tropp, L. R. (2016). Don’t judge a living book by its cover: Effectiveness of the living library intervention in reducing prejudice toward Roma and LGBT people. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(9), 510–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patel, P. C., & Feng, C. (2021). LGBT workplace equality policy and customer satisfaction: The roles of marketing capability and demand instability. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 40(1), 7–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pichler, S., Blazovich, J. L., Cook, K. A., Huston, J. M., & Strawser, W. R. (2018). Do LGBT-supportive corporate policies enhance firm performance? Human Resource Management, 57(1), 263–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poux, P. D. (1998). Gay consumers MIA from media surveys. Advertising Age, 69(16), 26–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Puntoni, S., Vanhamme, J., & Visscher, R. (2011). Two birds and one stone. Journal of Advertising, 40(1), 25–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, A., II., Forehand, M. R., Puntoni, S., & Warlop, L. (2012). Identity-based consumer behavior. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(4), 310–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shan, L., Fu, S., & Zheng, L. (2017). Corporate sexual equality and firm performance. Strategic Management Journal, 38(9), 1812–1826.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, B. (2004). Hollywood ethics: Developing ethical issues … Hollywood style. Journal of Business Ethics, 49(2), 167–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sierra, J. J., Hyman, M. R., & Heiser, R. S. (2012). Ethnic identity in advertising: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Promotion Management, 18(4), 489–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sierra, J. J., Hyman, M. R., & Torres, I. M. (2009). Using a model’s apparent ethnicity to influence viewer responses to print ads: A social identity theory perspective. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 31(2), 41–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoll, M. L. (2009). Boycott basics: Moral guidelines for corporate decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 84(1), 3–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tharp, M. (2001). Marketing and consumer identity in multicultural America. Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomhave, A., & Vopat, M. (2018). The business of boycotting: Having your chicken and eating it too. Journal of Business Ethics, 152(1), 123–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, W.-H.S. (2011). How minority consumers use targeted advertising as pathways to self-empowerment. Journal of Advertising, 40(3), 85–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Um, N.-H. (2012). Seeking the holy grail through gay and lesbian consumers: An exploratory content analysis of ads with gay/lesbian-specific content. Journal of Marketing Communications, 18(2), 133–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Es, R. (2003). Inside and outside The Insider: A film workshop in practical ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 48(1), 89–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanlee, F., Dhaenens, F., & Van Bauwel, S. (2018). Understanding queer normality: LGBT+ representations in millennial Flemish television fiction. Television & New Media, 19(7), 610–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warren, C. A. (1974). Identity and community in the gay world. Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Werner, A. (2014). ‘Margin Call’: Using film to explore behavioural aspects of the financial crisis. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(4), 643–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Joris Demmers, Wenbo Wang, Xingyu Chu, Benedict Dellaert, and Hean Tat Keh for their constructive comments on an early draft, and Zike Cao, Yue Cui, and Haosheng Fan for their support and assistance to this project. Xiaoyu Zhou acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72102145)

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash Business School, Monash University, Building S, 26 Sir John Monash Drive, Caulfield East, VIC, 3145, Australia

    Yimin Cheng

  2. School of Entrepreneurship and Management, ShanghaiTech University, 393 Middle Huaxia Rd., Pudong, Shanghai, 201210, China

    Xiaoyu Zhou

  3. Business School, Central University of Finance and Economics, Haidian District, 39 South College Road, Beijing, 10081, China

    Kai Yao

Authors
  1. Yimin Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiaoyu Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kai Yao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yimin Cheng or Xiaoyu Zhou.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research in Australia and were approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC). MUHREC approved project ID: 25482.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained anonymously from all participants in accordance with MUHREC approved procedures.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendices

Appendix A: Illustration of IMDb Plot Keyword Page

figure a

Appendix B: Illustration of IMDb Plot Keyword Search Engine

figure b

Appendix C: Movie Plots Used in Study 2

Non-LGBT Condition

Movie Title: Looking for George

Plot summary:

George, a journalist, decides to leave Paris after being laid off and to settle down in the middle of nowhere, far from the society he hates. The trouble is that he leaves Sonia, his true love, behind. The latter, a teacher who loves her job, refuses to give up everything ­including her comfort­ to follow him. Sonia makes all the efforts in the world to forget George, whether in the company of her friend Pierre, a charming choreographer, or in the arms of Thomas, a man who soon proves perverse and dangerous, only to realize that her heart belongs to George and nobody else. If George does not come back, Sonia feels life is not worth living any longer…

Gay-Inclusive Condition

Movie title: Looking for George

Plot summary:

George, a journalist, decides to leave Paris after being laid off and to settle down in the middle of nowhere, far from the society he hates. The trouble is that he leaves Sonia, his true love, behind. The latter, a teacher who loves her job, refuses to give up everything ­including her comfort­ to follow him. Sonia makes all the efforts in the world to forget George, whether in the company of her friend Pierre, a charming gay choreographer, or in the arms of Thomas, a man who soon proves perverse and dangerous, only to realize that her heart belongs to George and nobody else. If George does not come back, Sonia feels life is not worth living any longer…

Lesbian-Inclusive Condition

Movie title: Looking for George

Plot summary:

George, a journalist, decides to leave Paris after being laid off and to settle down in the middle of nowhere, far from the society he hates. The trouble is that he leaves Sonia, his true love, behind. The latter, a teacher who loves her job, refuses to give up everything ­including her comfort­ to follow him. Sonia makes all the efforts in the world to forget George, whether in the company of her friend Lucy, a charming lesbian choreographer, or in the arms of Thomas, a man who soon proves perverse and dangerous, only to realize that her heart belongs to George and nobody else. If George does not come back, Sonia feels life is not worth living any longer…

Gay-Themed Version

Movie title: Looking for George

Plot summary:

George, a journalist, decides to leave Paris after being laid off and to settle down in the middle of nowhere, far from the society he hates. The trouble is that he leaves Dave, his true love, behind. The latter, a teacher who loves his job, refuses to give up everything ­including his comfort­ to follow him. Dave makes all the efforts in the world to forget George, whether in the company of his friend Pierre, a charming gay choreographer, or in the arms of Thomas, a man who soon proves perverse and dangerous, only to realize that his heart belongs to George and nobody else. If George does not come back, Dave feels life is not worth living any longer…

Lesbian-Themed Version

Movie title: Looking for Caroline

Plot summary:

Caroline, a journalist, decides to leave Paris after being laid off and to settle down in the middle of nowhere, far from the society she hates. The trouble is that she leaves Sonia, her true love, behind. The latter, a teacher who loves her job, refuses to give up everything ­including her comfort­ to follow her. Sonia makes all the efforts in the world to forget Caroline, whether in the company of her friend Lucy, a charming lesbian choreographer, or in the arms of Béatrice, a woman who soon proves perverse and dangerous, only to realize that her heart belongs to Caroline and nobody else. If Caroline does not come back, Sonia feels life is not worth living any longer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cheng, Y., Zhou, X. & Yao, K. LGBT-Inclusive Representation in Entertainment Products and Its Market Response: Evidence from Field and Lab. J Bus Ethics 183, 1189–1209 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05075-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05075-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation