Last year GetUp! Australia released an amazing ad, titled “It’s Time,” that went viral and brought international attention to that nation’s marriage equality debate. It’s incredibly compelling, freshly bold, and a total tear-jerker — in fact, it still brings me to tears every time I watch it, even ten months later. I said then that bold ads like “It’s Time” and other recent ads from Ireland, the Netherlands, and Argentina are exactly what we need in the marriage equality fight in the U.S. because, instead of just talking about rights and benefits, they appeal directly to viewers’ sense of empathy and pack an emotional punch.
Well, it looks like I may get my wish: according to Gay Star News, a nonprofit organization named after the film, It’s Time | Marriage Equality, is hoping to raise $50,000 online to air a one-minute version of “It’s Time” in strategic television markets across the United States. The group specifically wants to influence the conversation in states with marriage-related referenda on the ballot this November (Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington).
You can view the full version of the “It’s Time” ad here, and the shortened version below. Head on over to It’s Time | Marriage Equality’s Social Teeth page and throw a couple bucks their way if you’d like to see the ad on your TV screen here in the U.S.
About time that someone wants to do an ad with real gay people talking about why marriage is important to their lives.
Good, I’m glad someone is taking the initiative to air this ad. All the recent ads our side seems to create are one with old straight couples talking about their gay children – who never appear in the video.
Great idea. We cannot do it withoug ads telling people why marriage equality is so important for us to acheive. God knows that the haters in Nom will likly be plastering the airwaves. We need to be up there are well.
It’s a good idea and a great ad. But how are we supposed to know whether this is legit? There is no information on who these people are. Also, they say that they want to run the ad on a variety of stations, both network affiliates and cable. And they are going to do this all for $50,000? This doesn’t sound right to me.
Obviously, you can never have a 100% guarantee of authenticity. But I would, at a minimum, want to know the names and backgrounds of the people involved, where they live, and who their unnamed “media partner” is.
Unless TWO can actually speak with these people and confirm that they are for real, I would not be promoting this on the TWO website.
OK, following up on my last comment: after looking into this, it seems that these people are working with the consent of GetUp Australia, the creators of the original spot. So that allays my suspicion. I do find it off-putting that they don’t provide detail about themselves and I still don’t get how they can broadcast this as widely as they hope on a $50K budget. But the effort does appear to be genuine.