Is That A Photoshopped "Banana" In There? Or Are You Just Having A Merry Christmas?

Okay, ready to see how Photoshop can CHANGE THE WORLD!?!?! Okay, not that dramatic, but it's amazing how a little retouching can change everything...

So I was breezing though the new Out Magazine and came across the ad below. 

So yay! Here's a cute holiday ad for Banana Republic, again, advertised in Out Magazine, talking about how they're among the "Best Places To Work For LGBT Equality" by HRC (woot!), featuring two rather attractive fellas...

Or is it?

One the SAME DAY I bought the magazine, I ventured over to the BR with some boos so one of them could buy a trench coat (and he gave me his old one...win win situation people). As we were checking out, I saw the exact same picture, but with one more guy in it! Take a look below:

Where did the other guy come from? I mean, he's also very attractive and I do not mind it one bit, but who dat?

(Side note: As I was taking this picture, a worker came up to me and asked if I needed any help. I freaked out, probably for no reason at all, put my phone down and go "Oh, haha, no, just, uhhhh, looking at the pants" as I dart towards the great wall o' khakis, pulling several random pairs of pants out...)

Now, the reason I wanted to post this is to show an example of what companies do to create "gay" ads. From my expert opinion (which is not expert at all) it seems the picture with the three men is the original image that was shot. For the ad placed in Out, the guy on the right was photoshopped out, they put the HRC info, and BAM, gay ad. I showed one of my friends who used to work for the agency responsible for BR ads, and they said it probably was just a formatting issue and that's why they took him out. Fair enough, and possibly true, but when I first saw it the in a gay magazine, it came off to me as two gay men modeling some beautiful plaid shirts. And because it was two, my first thought was they were a couple. Just my own personal observation. Funny how the mind works, isn't it? 

I understand a lot of companies probably don't want to put in a lot of extra money to make a gay-themed ad, which is understandable, and I think it's interesting how just a few tiny modifications to an ad can change the entire message. As much as I would love for companies to invest a good amount of time (and possibly money) towards making ads targeting their LGBT customers, I think BR proves it doesn't take much to create something that can a) show support for the community and b) increase business by targeting to a different cliental.

For those who are interested, HRC just came out with the 2012 list of Best Places To Work (Gap, which owns BR, is still on the list). Check out the full list here.