BMW & Gaywheels.Com

Adage.com reports that "BMW of North America is under fire from a gay-advocacy auto Web site for advertising in gay and lesbian magazines.

It's an interesting issue demonstrating the need for a brand identity to be consistent and recognizable both internally and externally. Your symbolic identity needs to be grounded in reality, or stated differently, must have plausible reality links. You have to walk the talk when trying to bring your brand to life.

In this case, Gaywheels doesn’t like the hypocrisy of placing ads in gay or gay friendly publications when the company doesn’t have domestic partner benefits for its employees. As Gaywheels points out, BMW is violating the "here and now" phenomena with their ad messaging. It’s like Wal-Mart saying something was made in the USA and it was actually manufactured in China, or trying to be both "everyday" and the low price leader only to try and upscale store.

The article and the controversy also demonstrate the increased difficulty in branding in the information age. Customers and communities can quickly research and share information regarding products or services.