We happened to have the television on in the background while working today, and suddenly noticed something interesting — a particularly progressive IKEA commercial.

The commercial discussed, in voiceover, the various needs that IKEA can meet for different folks with different tastes in furniture; the visuals keyed off simple concepts in the voiceovers. It was the final concept, though, that caught our eye. The voiceover pondered, "Why shouldn't sofas come in flavors...like families?" When the mention of different flavors of families was spoken, the video cut to a couple, their young daughter, and their Golden Retriever.

The couple was a pair of presumably monogamous gay men.

Apparently, IKEA has been casually asserting the commonality and equality of gay relationships for years, ever since a one-off ad run in 1994. (This is the first we've heard of it, having done some research immediately after seeing today's commercial.) Since then, they've reportedly had a number of gay-, lesbian-, and transgendered-themed ads, which is a pretty neat phenomenon, considering that as homosexuality becomes more commonplace and openly professed, the conservatives who oppose all things faaaaaabulous — and who crack down hard on anything that panders to "them gays" — have been getting more and more vociferous and vehement in their opposition.

It's a very cool thing that IKEA and others are doing, and it's one of the steps that we feel bring us closer to a more sane and egalitarian society. The idea is that our culture should reach a point in its evolution where it isn't at all remarkable to see a gay couple or an openly transgendered person in a television commercial. Of course, with that comes the addendum that we should also reach the point where it's perfectly acceptable to parody gay relationships and individuals, too — despite the offense that some take at parody, it is one of the flashing neon signs that indicate acceptance.

We've felt for a long time that the march of gay rights is one that should come to ultimate fruition within the next few generations, simply because with each generation, homosexuals are more confident in their sexuality, and open and honest about it — which keeps heterosexuals aware of the existence and normalcy of homosexuality. The more you know something, the less foreign it is, and the easier it is to just accept it — even endorse or vicariously celebrate it — and go about your business. As with most things, the antidote to bigotry is exposure — and, by extension, knowledge. The more you know about an "alien" group, the more you can see how much we're all the same, and the more likely you are to accept them.

At any rate, it is really, really cool that IKEA is just saying "Fuck the bigotry" and airing commercials that reflect real life. It almost makes up for Ingvar Kamprad joining the Nazis.

* And no, we didn't pull that title out of our asses.

As a Christian (granted I'm not a fan of organized religion as a personal choice) I believe that religious arguements against gay marriages are bs and political arguements are non-existant. Starting with political, seperation of church and state. Case closed, arguement finished. Religiously, look around watch the news. When the world is filled with people crashing their planes into buildings, innocent people bombed on holy land, open fire in market places in Iraq, and Paris Hilton losing a damn dog (following with the conspiracy theory that she bought a new one) the more love between humans, whether it be M/M, M/F, or F/F the better. The world is filled with hate which includes the preaching that homosexuals are doomed to eternal damnation, are sinners, and will burn in hell. I believe in God and I believe that love between two people no matter the sexual orientation is a hell of a lot more powerful than a sermon spouted by a preacher on Sundays. God knows, literally, that the world needs more love and especially needs more tolerance.

IKEA is a scandanavian company. Denmark, Norway and Sweden are not high on the homophobic list of countries, so it stands to reason to me that they would be quite progressive in their advertising campaigns.

Hear, hear! While we may not share your religion, Peyton, we certainly share your (and Burt Bacharach's) sentiments. People like you serve as reminders that religion and intolerance aren't mandatory bedfellows, and sadly, that's a reminder that we need more and more these days. With all the negative crap floating around this oversized toilet we call life, why some folks feel the need to condemn others for a natural and inoffensive (in the literal sense of the word) character trait is beyond us. Love 'em before they're flushed, that's our motto. Or, well, it could be. We'll see how it looks on a T-shirt.

And we agree that it's less of a shock to see Scandinavian companies running ads like these, but remember: they had to choose whether or not to run them in the United States. And if we're not at the top of the barrel when it comes to homophobic countries, we're at least tossing up a grappling hook and climbing for all we're worth.

I saw this commercial too and was impressed. BUT!... I saw it in full on NBC. Then, saw it again aired on Fox and to my surprise, they cut that last scene with the gay family. I thought I missed something. Maybe it was a goof where they ran out of time? But, I have seen that twice so far. Is that something imposed by Fox??

You know, it wouldn't shock us to learn that Fox did something like that. We haven't found any references to that happening, but we wouldn't put it past them.