Bell Canada has quietly joined the ranks of companies like AT&T and Google in taking a swipe at Russia’s controversial anti-gay laws, which have dominated discussion surrounding this year’s Winter Games in Sochi.
In a one-minute ad released last week and slated to run through the Olympic Games, Bell gives us a sampling of the various devices on which you can enjoy Olympic events — and treats us to a brief same-sex kiss. So brief, in fact, you could easily miss it. (It’s at 0:23 in the video above.)
That’s certainly not as overt as AT&T’s public declaration last week of its opposition to Russia’s anti-gay laws; and it’s not as noticeable as Google turning its homepage banner into a rainbow flag last week.
But in the context of the debate surrounding Russia’s laws, the message is clear.
Russia last summer passed a new law banning the dissemination of pro-gay “propaganda” to children, which has been widely interpreted to mean you can’t tell children that homosexuality is normal. The laws have the full support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Gay rights activists say the law could be interpreted to mean all public displays of affection by gay people are banned.
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