Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), the Vietnam’s largest jewelry retailers have launched a pro-LGBTI ad campaign.
A same-sex couple feature in a video for the ‘True Love’ campaign for PNJ, in collaboration with advertising agency, Mirum Vietnam. Gaystarnews.com reports.
In a video for the campaign, opens with the text ‘Based on true stories’, and showcases couples wearing wedding and engagement rings.
Around two-thirds of the way through, it shows a male couple setting up a tent on a camping trip.
They then stop to look at a rainbow before holding hands in front of a campfire.
The video also includes a range of body-shapes and sizes, and ends with the line ‘The true beauty of love’.
Comments below the video in Vietnamese are overwhelmingly positive, with many praising the inclusion of a same-sex couple.
Cultural stigmas remain
Though often criticized for the woeful records of human rights and free speech, Vietnam is widely considered one of the more progressive countries in Southeast Asia with regards to LGBTI rights.
There are no laws forbidding homosexuality, and the government passed a landmark law in 2015 which legally recognizes trans people.
However, there remain numerous socio-cultural obstacles facing the country’s LGBTI community.
Many people in Vietnam still consider LGBTI rights as a social stigma or as ‘western values’.
This remains particularly in Vietnam’s rural areas, which are more conservative areas.
There are also few anti-discrimination laws in Vietnam to protect LGBTI people in the workplace.