‘The Visit’ by Anouk is not India’s first LGBTQ ad

Clothing brand Anouk is currently in news for its Lesbian advertisement showing a lesbian couple preparing to meet the parents of one of them. The ad has been getting rave reviews for portraying a complex issue in a subtle and easy manner.

Those of you who have not seen it, here is the video:



The idea is good and so is the execution; it portrays homosexual love as any other romantic relationship that two people can be in. However, many stories have come out featuring this as India’s first LGBTQ ad, featuring a gay or a lesbian couple.

But is it really the first one?

Clothing and accessory brand Fastrack had come out with a lesbian ad in 2013 that had “Come out of the closet” as its tagline.

The Fastrack ad begin with a closed pink closet, which when opens has two girls adjusting their clothes and hair, giving each other jittery looks; the scene hints that something has happened inside the closet. They then walk away from each other and the words “Come out of the closet” fill the screen, with Fastrack’s tagline, “Move On.”

You can catch the video here:


Source

The ad came out in April 2013, when homosexuality was not declared a crime in India, which is perhaps the reason that it didn’t get the attention that the Anouk ad is getting.

Image snipped from the ad