Unknown filmmaker (BBDO Worldwide agency) | Sleeper / 2004 [commercial advertisement]

‘til flight doeth part

by Douglas Messerli

 

Unknown filmmaker (BBDO Worldwide agency) Sleeper / 2004 [1 minute] [commercial advertisement]

 

Apparently it’s karaoke night at the local Tiki bar, a quite plump, pot-bellied man singing out the Bee Gees favorite “How Deep Is Your Love” to a rather lean man, both dressed in matching Hawaiian shirts. We soon watch the two dancing through an open field, obviously in love, one handsome one with a sweater tied around his neck, the heavyset man with an open shirt. They share a rowboat, sit together under a tree reading.

    At home, the thinner man is spinning a clay form on a potter’s wheel when the other enters the room only in his shorts, with protruding belly. The two can be seen bathing in a bathtub together, surrounded by candles. A frame latter, the thin one holds up a giant jockstrap, clearly sizes for his friend. Together they bite a strawberry and they sit before a fire. By this time in their relationship it is clearly time to witness their wedding vows in a church (same-sex marriage became legal in South Africa, the source of this ad, in 2006).

    As they lean in for a kiss, the music suddenly stops, and we see the two, likely strangers, on an airflight, the heavy-set slob having fallen asleep against the shoulder of the taller, leaner other, who seems quite discomforted for the fact. A voiceover speaks: “If you wanted to sleep with him, you would’ve married him.”

    The fat man snorts and falls closer.

   “Fly Virgin Atlantic upper class,” purrs the narrator, as we quickly see a flatbed suite being opened up for a single man’s pleasure.

    This ad was made for Virgin Atlantic South Africa, but the company have long been supporters of gay ads over the years, featuring a gay kissing ad for Virgin Cola as early as 1994.

    Since I can’t afford first class, next time I fly Virgin Atlantic to Cape Town I will simply demand to be seated by a cuter guy.

 

Los Angeles, January 2, 2026

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (January 2026).