Soft drink-manufacturing giant Coca-Cola has released an advert portraying a gay character that is taking the internet by storm, featuring a classic sexy handyman story that endorses same-sex attraction.
The company last year made a statement on the importance it places on the LGBT community's push for equal rights, saying it supports the movement and does not support legislation that discriminates against homosexuality.
As part of its "Taste The Feeling" campaign, Coca-Cola 's marketing team put a spin on some of its older ads that included shirtless handymen - this time with a pool boy, rather than a construction worker or gardener as used in previous commercials.
The commercial centres on a competition between brother and sister to get the pool boy's attention - naturally with a Coke - but ultimately losing out to their mother, who had been eyeing him up off camera.
Rodolfo Echeverria, the creative behind the ad, said the idea was to position a Coke as the "ultimate object of desire" while also telling an "emotional, human story".
"This story has more layers, including a 'wink' that touches on our point of view regarding diversity and inclusion," Mr Echeverria told AdAge.
"We are managing our culturally relevant messages organically within our campaign spots not as the main subject of the story but as subtext."
Watch the full commercial below.
Newshub.
