• by Amy Corr  @MediaPostOTL, June 9, 2021

Reuters reported that Brazil is the deadliest place in the world for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2020, the number of transgender people killed in the country rose by 70%.

Mercado Libre, an ecommerce platform in Latin America, launched a multimedia campaign during Pride Month that recreates iconic kisses throughout art, movies and television using real-life LGBTQ+ couples.

The campaign, created by GUT São Paulo, debuted Sunday during prime-time TV in Brazil. A 60-second spot and 2:30 video create a cinematic and artful walk through time. (In Brazil the Argentina-based Mercado Libre uses the Portuguese spelling, Mercado Livre.)

Sixteen memorable scenes from “The Notebook,” “Spiderman,” “Game of Thrones,” “Ghost,” “Titanic,” and Magritte’s “The Lovers” painting, to name a few, were shot using real LGBTQ+ couples. 

Additional campaign support includes an exhibition of iconic kisses and an OOH activation. Brazil’s Gay Pride parade was held online on June 6 and was shown on YouTube and sponsored by Mercado Libre. 

The company partnered with the Associação da Parada LGBT de São Paulo (LGBTQ+ Pride Parade Association in São Paulo) four years ago to help support and expand the community’s voice and the work being done to enforce their rights. 

“The idea stemmed from our creative team searching the term 'iconic kisses’ and saw that 99% of the results only featured straight couples, and since life imitates art, it's no surprise that in Brazil, LGBTQ+ love is still frowned upon,” said Bruno Brux, Executive Creative Director, GUT São Paulo. “The brand -- whose name translates to ‘Free Market’ -- is using its power in Latin America to help normalize all kinds of love.”

“Ultimately, we want the campaign to change the status quo on search engines,” added Louise McKerrow, Regional Branding Director for Mercado Libre and Mercado Pago. “When we search the Internet for 'iconic kisses,’ we want to see a variety of people representing all the diverse expressions of love that exist.” 

All images are available free of copyright, to be downloaded, recreated and shared. Mercado Libre will donate $1 to LGBTQ+ NGO Casa1 for every picture downloaded from its website. 

“We made the images free of copyright so people can show their Pride however they want [and] replicate it, sell products, and help make the new iconic kisses as famous as the original ones,” said Brux.