Vancouver-based podcast Ad Creeps dissects classic TV commercials, with a trans twist
Courtney “Dee” Twentee and Al Ross take a fun deep dive into the gendered ads they grew up on
Al Ross and Courtney “Dee” Twentee. Photo by Chelsea Stuyt Photography
Ad Creeps is available January 19 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcast apps
THE BIRTH of the lindy hop, The Matrix’s “bullet time”, and the androgynous appeal of loose-fitting cargo pants: these are just some of the seemingly disparate dots that get connected in the opening episode for the new podcast Ad Creeps.
Hosted by longtime friends Al Ross and Courtney “Dee” Twentee, the show eventually works its way up to discussing an iconic late-’90s Gap commercial. Like other episodes, the segment takes not just a roundabout route to its deep dive into ad culture, but deconstructs classic commercials from a trans perspective—with a lot of laughs along the way.
“Back then we didn’t know who we were as kids,” Twentee explains of growing up on a steady diet of gendered TV ads, and being lumped into a strictly binary world. “So it’s looking at people in khakis and the masculine dancers and I’m infatuated with them, and realizing now that I wanted to be them.”
Ross, a writer and producer who works in animation, and Twentee, a comedian and historian, have been podcasting together for five years, best known for their popular series The XX Files, a rewatch of the hit sci-fi series “by two queer intersectional feminists who really don't like The X-Files”.
“We actually started that as cis women, and through those five years realized our own identities were changing, and we ended it as two nonbinary people,'“ Twentee says.
The two have a camaraderie that goes back to their years together at UVic, where they formed a bond over their pop-culture interests.
“I like to call us both ‘recovering nerds’,” says Twentee. “We were deep into TV and deep into comic books, and then stepped back and said, ‘This isn’t for me anymore.’”
They also share a rowdy sense of humour. “It’s almost infuriating at some times because we can’t turn it off when we’re together,” Twentee says with a laugh.
Ultimately, the idea with the new Ad Creeps is to have fun remembering the annoying jingles and cereal mascots that ruled their youth, but through more of a critical than nostalgic lens. “We love these ads because they’ve taught us to!” Twentee says.
Subject matter will range from corporate mega campaigns (“I’m lovin’ it”) to smaller, weirder commercials you might never have seen before (did you know Wendy’s once had a buffet?). In each episode, Twentee and Ross take turns surprising each other with an ad, rooting out behind-the-scenes backstories and anecdotes.
It’s not just yesteryear’s ads that are gendered, Twentee adds, pointing to the infamous 2019 Peloton commercial that the pair tackle in a teaser holiday Ad Creeps episode posted on their website. (Widely criticized as sexist, it depicts a rail-thin woman receiving an exercise bike from her partner on Christmas morning, with the implication she needs to lose weight.)
“I connected that back to Sears Christmas catalogues in the 1930s,” says Twentee of the episode.
Because of the vast array of ways to exist as a nonbinary or trans person these days, advertisers might struggle to speak to that market, Twentee suggests. “Because products are so ingrained in gender, a lot of companies don’t know how to advertise to us. Will it change? Not until you have better representation across all media, including movies and TV.”
For its part, Ad Creeps gives voice to a community that doesn’t see itself represented widely in today’s media landscape. It just expresses that perspective through the kitschier realms of pop culture. As Twentee says, “Trans people don’t just talk about trans politics.”
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