Hegemony

      I believe that the concept of hegemony helped me understand the lack of advertisements such as this one from McDonald's promoting tolerance of homosexuality in America by explaining how the  heterosexual majority is against such a construct, and is able to avoid confronting the issue head-on by never bringing it into the light at all.
      Hegemony, as applied here, is essentially the dominance of one belief group in a society  over all others. By virtue of controlling the media, they determine what is shown to the broader community and in what light it's cast. In this way, it is possible for the majority to convey their own values as "common sense" basic assumptions. One may think of the media as a kind of engaging puppet show put on to entertain and distract an audience oblivious to the pulling of the strings going on backstage.
      Because the majority of America is conservative and pro-heterosexual, an ad like this one (aired in France) featuring a gay teenager as a welcome patron of McDonald's and closing with the tagline "Come As You Are" would never be shown. If there was a gay male character in an American ad, which in itself is unlikely, he would probably be contrasted negatively with the desirable prototype of a strong, tough, overwhelmingly heterosexual male of the mold examined in Tough Guise. This is not entirely to suggest that everyone involved in every advertising department across America is a part of the conservative majority, or that McDonald's deserves a halo for their strong action on behalf of civil rights. It's a matter of economics: the ad pandered to a strong liberal majority in France, but as long as the American hegemony opposes homosexuality, such an ad as this, shown below, is simply unmarketable and will not be seen.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/01/gay-mcdonalds-ad-in-franc_n_596361.html

I found this video on the Huffington Post website.