The U.S. Census Courts the Gays

By Michelle Garcia

Census ads on your Happy Meal box? Maybe not just yet, but readers of the Philadelphia Gay News were privy to a test run of an ad campaign when the United States Census placed an ad on the paper's front page.

The October 9-15 edition of the weekly paper features a yellow sticker advertisement placed prominently on the upper right-hand corner of the page. It reads, "By filling out the census form, more benefits will come to our community. Show your pride this March."

Yvette Nunez, a media specialist for the Philadelphia Census Bureau, said that the federally funded ad was placed after meeting with PGN publisher Mark Segal.

"The sticker idea came up, and appears to be very effective because it's smacked right on the front page, and readers actually have to move it to read the article beneath it," she told Advocate.com on Tuesday. "We're definitely on board, and what we're also excited about, for the Philadelphia Gay News, was that the ad was placed during Outfest, which is a large event here in the region covered by the paper."

The city is one of the testing grounds for the upcoming census's multi-platform media effort to get as many minority groups as possible involved in completing census surveys.

Starting in January, "You're pretty much going to see all census, all the time," Nunez said. "It's going to be on the radio, television, print, we're partnering with some national organizations -- Sesame Street is on board; the Count is on board. We're partnered with Google, we're partnered with Best Buy -- it's possible that you'll see the census in your McDonald's Happy Meal."

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Reader Comments

Back to top Post a Comment
Name: Andrew
Date posted: 10/23/2009 1:36:19 AM
Hometown: MS Gulfcoast

Comment:
Donna, According to Census.org, maybe. If you are a federal employee (including military) or the spouse of one then you are. I assume census forms will be mailed to you as with residents in the country. It doesn't explain that part. But if you are a private citizen living abroad then you won't be counted, because you don't effect any congressional districts, but you can still fill out a form for other statistical purposes; again, I didn't see anywhere on the site explaining how to get a census form if you are out of the country though. Hope that helps.
Back to top Post a Comment
Name: Donna Young
Date posted: 10/21/2009 11:22:50 AM
Hometown: KCMO/Norway

Comment:
What I want to know is this: will the census be available to those of us living in other countries with our spouses/partners?

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