Dustin Lance Black Directs New Gay-Inclusive Coca-Cola Ad

Out Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black recently wrote and directed a short film for Coca-Cola, which puts the spotlight on bullying and two gay teens.

Coca-Cola hired Black, 41, to direct three shorts for the soda company. The aids will air in Latin America and aim to stop bullying. In an interview with AdWeek, Black said one of the shorts, "El SMS" ("The Text"), is "aimed at the LGBT community." He said he wanted to show "a crossroads moment where you've got to make a decision: Are you going to go the way of kindness, or are you going to go for the easy joke when someone's having a tough time?"

He added: "If you do something with acceptance and kindness, you can create a true friendship."

Black, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the 2009 film "Milk," also told AdWeek how some LGBT people have responded to the short.

"The response in the LGBT community to 'The Text' was remarkable. I heard from one of the heads at the ABC network about how much it moved her," Black said. "I heard from Cleve Jones, one of the leaders of the LGBT movement, about how much it moved him. And these aren't people I sent it to. They found it, which I find remarkable, since it's in Portuguese on the Internet.

"For Coca-Cola to take a pro-diversity, pro-equality stance creates a lot of goodwill in the LGBT community," he continued. "It's heartwarming for the LGBT community to see that a global brand would embrace this community because, let's be honest, there are places in the world that know about Coca-Cola where it is still a death sentence to be gay."

Black also commented on critics of his work.

"Some...are very critical of what the intent of the brand [Coca-Cola] might have been. And I say, 'Yes, their intent was to win a market, and their intent was to sell their product,'"he told AdWeek. "My intent was to send the message that diversity is a good thing and LGBT people and their families deserve respect and love. Well, I'm not going to skip an opportunity to send a pro-equality message just because they're selling a product alongside it."

[H/T Towleroad]

Watch the short below: