Israeli utility’s puppet advertising campaign sparks gay-pride debate
JERUSALEM — The goal was merely to promote clean energy in Israel — but television ads starring a pair of male puppets called “plug” and “socket” have instead unleashed a debate about gay pride.
The puppets, named Sheka and Teka in Hebrew, have appeared in ads for the stateowned Israel Electric Corp. for more than a decade. Israelis have long playfully questioned whether they might be gay. But the arrival of a baby puppet in the new campaign set off fresh speculation about their sexual orientation.
The ads highlight a striking paradox of the Holy Land: Although religion holds great sway and there is no civil marriage, gays have gained a widespread acceptance that is increasingly noted around the world.
Some gay-rights advocates have accused the company of being intentionally ambiguous about their sexuality in a cynical publicity ploy.
“This should weigh on the conscience of everyone who worked on this campaign, who will come home and ask themselves whether they would want to raise a child in a country where the electric company says: ‘Hide, don’t be proud,’” wrote Dvir Bar in the nightlife magazine City Mouse.
Sheka and Teka have drawn comparisons with another famous puppet pair: Bert and Ernie, whose sexuality also has come into question. Sesame Workshop, which produces Sesame Street, has declared that the two are just good friends and that they “remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”
In their latest ad, Sheka and Teka are seen in a living room, talking to a pinkish baby puppet with a tuft of orange hair. The scene then flashes back to a hospital nursery, where Teka congratulates Sheka on the birth of his child. It’s unclear who the mother is.
Later in the ad, the duo sits on a park bench with the child. They breathe in the fresh air the electricity company suggests is made possible by cleaner energy production. Teka sniffs and suggests that the baby needs a diaper change.
Israel Electric Corp. said it does not understand the fuss over the campaign.
“They represent the concerned Israeli, who is really worried about the air quality he is breathing and the environment he lives in. The baby that was born now represents the next generation,” said Oren Helman, a senior vice president who is behind the commercial. “There are no hints or ambiguities here.”
Although sections of Israeli society remain conservative and often opposed to homosexuality, Israel is seen as one of the world’s most progressive countries in terms of gay rights.
Homosexuals serve openly in Israel’s military and parliament, and the Supreme Court has granted gays a variety of family rights.
Officially, there is no gay marriage in Israel, primarily because there is no civil marriage. All weddings must be carried out through the Jewish rabbinate, which considers homosexuality a sin and a violation of Jewish law. But the state recognizes same-sex couples who marry abroad, though they are not granted all the rights extended to heterosexual married couples.