Viewers Don't Buy Cartier's Story About LGBTQ-Suggestive Ads for Romantic Rings

A new commercial created for the Chinese market shows two women wearing matching rings. The same ad shows a heterosexual couple, a family consisting of a mixed-gender couple and children in a car, and two men riding bicycles together and throwing their arms around each others' shoulders. It's has to be a celebration romance both gay and straight, right?

No, Cartier, the company behind the ad, claims it's all about family and friends.

The rejoinder on social media: "Oh, really?"

The ad drew immediate interest for its imagery, which depicted various renditions of what seemed to be romance and marriage. Then there was the timing: The ad was released Aug. 10, in advance of a Chinese version of Valentine's Day, the Qixi Festival, on Aug. 25.

Cartier's explanation hasn't exactly convinced everyone, reports CNN. The images of the two young men sparked particular interest, and particular doubt, when Cartier offered the explanation that the duo were "father and son."

The ad appeared as a video, with its imagery also appearing in a print ad at e-retailer Tmall, news outlets said.

Whereas a depiction of two women had been labeled "Mutual understanding beyond words. Witness our everlasting friendship," text that accompanied the two young men suggested that "Father and son are like brothers," noted UK newspaper The Guardian.

Brothers pretty close in age, Internet commentators scoffed. Posted one person: "They look three years apart in age at most. Also, I've never heard of fathers and sons wearing matching rings."

Though it is not a crime to be LGBTQ in China, neither is it allowed to broadcast imagery suggesting sexuality that censors deem "abnormal," CNN noted.

While the imagery might have flown under the radar - and pinged some people's gaydar - without any attempts to explain away any LGBTQ interpretations, the company's explanations struck some as strange or off-putting. The Guardian cited one Twitter user who posted, "The campaign was much better when it stayed in the area of ambiguity. Now it makes me feel like being gay is something to be ashamed of."

Opined another: "Trying so hard to conceal something has made something ordinary so weird."

The specific ring being advertised - Cartier's "Trinity" ring - also carries a definite association with romance, media outlets noted.

While some may have been exasperated or amused at the company's attempts to "de-gay" the ad after the fact, the head of the China Rainbow Media Awards saw a rainbow lining to the situation.

Yanzi Peng told CNN that Cartier might have been chasing "pink dollars," and added, "but I'm inclined to be more positive in thinking that they are supporting gay rights in a way" through the use of imagery that could be interpreted as celebrating same-sex couples.