n a newly launched television commercial by Orbitz, a leading online travel company, four male golfers have their game interrupted when a hovercraft lands in the middle of the green. The pilot approaches the men and distributes checks to three of the men. He informs them that the price of the hotels they booked on Orbitz went down and that the checks are for the difference. The forth golfer is told he doesn't get a check because he didn't book with Orbitz.
The advertisement is clearly designed to promote Orbitz's new price assurance program that guarantees that if a customer books a flight or hotel reservation and another Orbitz customer subsequently books the same reservation at a lower published fare, and first customer receives a check for the difference.
What might not be obvious to many viewers is that that ad also contains a subtle nod to gay viewers. One of the three golfers that receives a check is wearing a shirt embossed with the HRC logo, a yellow equal symbol on a blue square.
HRC promotes itself as America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.
The inclusion of the HRC logo was confirmed by Brian Hoyt, Orbitz's vice president of corporate communications and government affairs.
