When five cowboys pulled their guns on a cook for thinking he had called them “honey,” in a 1987 Nut ‘N’ Honey cereal commercial, many thought it was funny.

But one expert says those people may not realize that advertisement is offensive.

Michael Wilke, executive director of the Commercial Closet Association, will speak Wednesday night about offensive portrayals of gays and lesbians in advertising at 8 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

Wilke’s organization analyzes hundreds of commercials and describes their positive, negative or neutral portrayals of gays and lesbians, said LGBTAA member Joel Taylor.

Advertisers are increasingly using gay themes as a way to stand out and to be inclusive, said Taylor, junior in political science.

“[Commercials] can reinforce stereotypes or completely dispel them,” Taylor said.

Advertisers do not use as many negative stereotypes now, said Joel Geske, associate professor of journalism and communication. The gay and lesbian audience was long ignored by marketers.

“Those days have kind of passed, but we still find negative portrayals,” Geske said. “You risk turning off a large part of your audience when you use those negative portrayals.

“[The gay and lesbian audience has] been recognized as more important [by advertisers].”

When looking at the gay community as an advertising demographic, gays and lesbians tend to be well-educated, with good jobs and no children, Geske said. They also tend to have money available to spend on all kinds of products.

Products and services advertisers frequently marketed to gays and lesbians include clothing, vacation and travel packages and upscale food and drink items, Geske said. Companies such as Absolut Vodka and Swedish furniture company Ikea were among the first to market to the gay and lesbian audience.

“[These companies] are trendy — they’re hip products and willing to take risks to market to gays and lesbians,” Geske said.

Other companies have followed the success of marketing to the gay community, he said. It is estimated 10 to 15 percent of people are a part of the gay and lesbian audience, but it is hard to know for sure. “It’s not an easy demographic to track,” he said.

Wilke will speak to several journalism classes Thursday, and will host a roundtable discussion at 12 p.m. Thursday in 172 Hamilton Hall. The event is open to any student interested in media, advertising or gay and lesbian issues.