Queer Production: Marketing Hegemony-Lite.

Studies of mass media render the discursive power of advertisements as sites of identity construction reflecting cultural hegemony. Using ethnographic content analysis, this study explores the production of Queer identity through the political economy of print advertisements in the Advocate and Curve from 2000-2002. Over 1,000 advertisements were examined based on three schematic themes: race, sex and gender, relationship and children, and textual messages. Men are more likely than women to be portrayed within gender normative scripts in relation to their status as the ideal representation of the Queer niche market. As compared to Caucasians, African Americans are branded through restricted representation by visibility, product type, and sexual appeal. Furthermore, advertisements reveal a cooptation of language for political rights. The findings show evidence that support the role of niche marketing in the commodification and homogenization of Queer identity in consumer society privileging hegemony within a politically marginalized group. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]