Real LGBTQIA+ Couples Reimagine Iconic Kisses in Pride Campaign

Love. A strong affection for another. An affection based on admiration. An attraction based on sexual desire. A tenderness felt by lovers. As the dictionary makes clear, there are many types of love; however, it does not specify who a “lover” is or who has the right to love whom.

In honor of Pride Month, Mercado Libre, the biggest e-commerce platform in Latin America, is celebrating LGBTQIA+ love by reimagining iconic kisses. GUT and Mercado Libre discovered that all famous images of kissing feature straight couples. So, they recreated those classical kisses to help normalize all types of love.

Bruno Brux, executive creative director at GUT São Paulo, says the creative brief was a bit difficult: “For several years, Mercado Libre has been an official sponsor of the São Paulo Pride Parade. This year, the brand wanted to go beyond the sponsorship and actually give something back to the community for the long term, not just during Pride Month. Part of the challenge was to come up with an idea that would be relevant to all of Latin America.”

GUT decided an art project like “Iconic Kisses” could extend beyond Pride, as the photo are being made available free of copyright for people to download, share and even be inspired to recreate their own iconic kisses—all year round.

Some of the kisses featured in the campaign are from The Notebook and Game of Thrones.

“The first step was to understand what an iconic kiss is in people’s minds,” Brux says. “We used Google Images and its algorithm to materialize what people understand as an ‘iconic kiss’ on a global level. Based on those results, we tried to create a selection of kisses that would be recognizable by anyone who sees the film—ranging from more classic references, like Rodin, to more current pop-culture references, as well as historical references.”

The reimagined kisses are a tribute to LGBTQIA+ community but not solely aimed at them.

“The campaign’s objective is to promote the normalization of LGBTQIA+ love through the recreation of iconic kisses. So, despite being a tribute to this community, it needed to be broad enough to touch everyone,” says Brux.

Covid restrictions had an interesting effect on casting.

“To get around this restriction [of no close contact on set], we had to find real couples一across the entire LGBTQIA+ community一that were willing to be our stars,” Brux says. “We got incredibly lucky to find couples with beautiful love stories that truly embraced the characters despite not being trained actors. So it’s fair to say that thanks to those health and safety restrictions, we ended up making a film that’s filled with true LGBTQIA+ love.”

Brux explains how this campaign ties back to the brand.

“Mercado Libre, as its name says [Free Market], is a brand that celebrates progress through the freedom it gives people to thrive by selling whatever they want to millions of people across the continent. With this campaign, it aims to use its reach to make the new iconic kisses as famous as the original ones, and to do so, the brand has made the images of the campaign 100 percent copyright free.”

He adds: “The images can be downloaded, turned into any kind of merchandise, such as T-shirts, mugs, beach towels, bags and more, and commercialized by the millions of sellers who use the platform every day. The more people use the new iconic kisses to create whatever they want, the more normal LGBTQIA+ love will be across Latin America, and hopefully around the world.”

CREDITS

Agency: GUT São Paulo 
Advertiser: Ebazar
Product: Mercado Livre 
Title: New Iconic Kisses 
Duration: 1×2’30, 1×60″, 1x
Territory: Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, México, Uruguay
CCO & Partner: Joaquín Cubria / Ignacio Ferioli
ECD: Bruno Brux
Creative Directors: Linus Oura e Tiago Abreu
Creatives: Julia Mota, Lucas Adam, Mellina Fontoura, Paula Perego
Global CSO: Fernando Ribeiro
Managing Director : Valéria Barone
Regional Account Director: Natalia Noya
Account Director: Raphaela Guillen
Account Executive: Mateus Carvalho
Head of Strategy: Amanda Agostini
Strategy Director: Diana Lopes
Strategy: Amora Marzulo, Bárbara Reis
Social Strategy Director: Douglas Coelho
Social Strategy: Bruce Vital
Head of Media & Data: Guilherme Cavalcante 
Media: Douglas Silveira, Laura Cardeal, Jayane Lopes
Head of Production: Mariane Goebel
Senior Producer: Thaís Schroder
Producer: Luciane Nuvolara
Producer: Saigon Filmes 
Director: Vellas 
Executive Producer: Marcelo Altschuler , Carol Pessini 
Attendant: Fernanda Gomes, Rafael Costa, Karin Diniz 
Production coordination: Katiucia Soares, Jucilene Almeida, Haiane Basilio 
Photography Director: Pierre Kerchove 
Art Director: Guilherme Marini 
Director Assistant: Flavio Lanfredi, Luciana Camargo 
Production Director: Reinaldo Faria Figurinista: Giovanna Moretto 
Casting Production: Flavia Cocozza 
Location Producer: Kleber Pereira 
Object Producer: Manu Tossi, Sergio Heineck 
Fitter: Rami D’Aguiar 
Finisher: Fabio Abreu 
Post-production coordination: Virgini Fares 
Color: Bleach Filmes – Sergio Pasqualino 
Finalizadora: NASH Production
Motion designer: Breithner Monteiro
Sound Production: LOUD +
Musical Direction: Gustavo Garbato 
Attendant: Karina Amabile, Priscila Miranda, Jin Park 
Production: Fabio Smeili, Bernardo Massot, Henrique Guimarães, Hugo Mariutti, Rafael Kabelo, Rodrigo Scarcello
Finishers: Pedro Cortez, Ricardo Bertran, Luca Fasano, Eduardo Barbosa, André Gianini e Mauricio Canezin
Executive Production: Maia Feres
Coordination: Ingrid Mabelle, Paloma Sol, Lara Frucatelli e Rafael Silvestrini
Photographer: Rodrigo Maltchique
Digitech: Magu Marioto
Assistant: Gustavo Uehara
Retouch: Alt Retouch
Customer approval: Louise Mckerrow, Thais Nicolau, Nathalia Cavalcante Teixeira, Marcela Gimenez