New Kindle Gay Marriage Commercial: Paperwhite Ad Signals Changing Times

While same-sex marriage hasn't been legalized nationwide, marriage equality, which has been deemed the civil rights movement of the 21st century, is becoming more and more socially acceptable. The traditional ideals of marriage and family have changed, and will continue to do so as time goes on. It appears that the market has taken note too.  

Amazon's new Kindle Paperwhite commerical is a ground-breaker, and a potential precedent-setter in the advertising world. This quirky and commical commercial is not inconsistent with the statistics. According to a Pew survey, 58% of society accepts homosexuality today, a 12% increase since 1994. Concurrent with this statistic, public support for same-sex marriage also continues to grow to Pew. In 1996 only 27% favored same-sex marriage compared to the 45% that do today.

Even though a relatively small percent of people believe gays and lesbians should be married, the statistics represent prgoress: they are slowly increasing as the years pass for each generation. The "Silent Generation," those born between the late 1920s and 1945, favored same-sex marrriage the least, while millenials favored the most at 64%.

The fact is that every argument against homosexuality and gay marriage can be countered. For those that believe that the purpose of marriage is procreation only: not everyone has the same views on marriage and its purpose; they've changed and will continue to change. And by that logic, homosexuality is nature's way of preventing overpopulation. For those that claim that homosexuality is wrong because it's a choice and not genetically predisposed, so what if it is a choice? What makes the world such a great place is the fact that people do have a choice, and unless those choices are harmful to others, what difference does it make? Religious people that view homosexuality as a sin have to realize that not everyone is religious and what's morally wrong to one person may not be the same for another. The fact is that it doesn't matter if you accept homosexaulity or not, because we live in a world where disagreeing with something doesn't mean that it's going to disappear.

Amazon understands that family dynamics are changing and the commercial is a manifestation of this. I think all corporations can learn something from Amazon: the market is ever-changing and so are consumers. The traditional family is no longer what it used to be, and successful marketing takes that into account. I'm sure someone at Apple is scratching their head over this one, wondering "why didn't I think of that?"

Before watching, expect the unexpected and be prepared to grin, whether you're for same-sex marriage or totally against it. I think everyone appreciates a good pun.