The
“Queer
Eye”
empire
continues
to
expand,
as
personalities
from
the
hit
makeover
show
sign
endorsement
deals
with
high-profile
retailers.
Fashion
guru
Carson
Kressley
—
one-fifth
of
the
“Fab
Five”
from
Bravo’s
“Queer
Eye
for
the
Straight
Guy”
—
takes
his
quick
and
catty
tongue
to
Chicago,
starring
in
Marshall
Field’s
commercials
touting
the
department
store’s
niche
“13-hour”
sales.
“We
were
interested
in
Carson
because
we
love
his
fashion
style
and
know-how,
and
we
thought
he
would
be
a
great
fit
for
our
brand,”
said
Heidi
Weaver,
senior
manager
of
public
relations
at
Marshall
Field’s.
“We
pride
ourselves
on
being
very
cutting
edge.”
In
the
commercial,
Kressley
prances
through
the
company’s
hallmark
store,
located
in
downtown
Chicago,
dispensing
fashion
advice
to
shoppers,
according
to
Weaver.
“The
spots
are
very
lighthearted,”
she
said.
“We’ve
gotten
a
ton
of
responses
from
our
guests,
and
people
are
responding
to
the
upbeat
nature
and
the
witty
tongue
he
brings.”
Marshall
Field’s
—
through
its
parent
company,
the
Target
Corporation
—
has
a
non-discrimination
policy
that
includes
sexual
orientation,
offers
domestic
partner
benefits
to
same-sex
couples
and
has
a
gay
employee
group,
Weaver
said.
Another
member
of
the
Fab
Five,
interior
design
expert
Thom
Filicia,
may
have
inked
a
deal
to
replace
actress
and
comedian
Kirstie
Alley
as
advertising
spokesperson
for
retailer
Pier
1
Imports,
according
to
a
report
in
Advertising
Age,
an
ad
industry
magazine.
But
officials
at
Pier
1
declined
to
confirm
whether
Filicia
is
the
new
public
face
for
the
company.
“The
article
announcing
we
had
changed
spokespeople
was
actually
incomplete
and
speculative,”
said
Mary
Ann
Roth,
a
Pier
1
spokesperson.
“Kirstie
Alley
is
our
spokesperson
through
the
end
of
the
year.
However,
we
will
have
an
announcement
coming
out
about
our
2004
marketing
plan
very
soon.”
USING
OPENLY
GAY
celebrities
to
hawk
mainstream
products
is
not
unprecedented.
But
the
recent
partnering
of
gay
celebrities
and
highly
recognizable
companies
is
encouraging,
said
Mike
Wilke,
executive
director
of
Commercial
Closet,
a
gay
advertising
watchdog.
“They’re
definitely
going
for
a
mainstream
audience
with
these
ads,”
Wilke
said.
“It’s
really
a
perfect
fit
for
them
to
be
pitching
home
furnishing
and
fashion.”
Some
pundits
predict
an
anti-gay
backlash
following
recent
positive
coverage
of
gays
in
the
media,
but
Wilke
says
gays
in
entertainment
may
be
immune.
“Some
people
are
marveling
in
the
amount
of
attention
[‘Queer
Eye’]
has
gotten
in
the
entertainment
media,”
Wilke
said.
“But
I
think
it
will
go
completely
unnoticed
because
it
is
a
perfectly
natural
place
for
them
to
appear
as
endorsers.”
In
September,
the
conservative
Montana
Family
Coalition
announced
it
would
introduce
a
media
campaign
against
“Queer
Eye,”
calling
the
program
“outrageous”
and
a
“joke,”
according
to
the
Independent
Record,
in
Helena,
Mont.
“To
me,
that’s
not
a
reality
show
about
gay
people,”
the
group’s
executive
director
Julie
Millam
told
the
paper.
“A
really
good
reality
show
for
gay
people
would
be
five
gay
men
dying
of
AIDS.”
When
contacted
this
week,
Millam
said
she
was
unaware
of
Kressley
and
Filicia’s
new
spokesperson
gigs,
but
she
let
out
a
hearty
laugh
when
she
heard
the
news.
After
learning
she
was
talking
with
a
gay
newspaper,
Millam
ended
the
interview
without
providing
comment.
Meanwhile,
feedback
to
Marshall
Field’s
decision
to
hire
Kressley
has
been
virtually
all
positive,
Weaver
said.
“If
we
have
gotten
any
negative
feedback,
it
has
been
very
minimal,
because
I
haven’t
heard
anything
about
it,”
Weaver
said.
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