A Hillcrest Ace Hardware commercial featuring local drag queens has prompted one Ace Hardware store owner to write two letters of complaint to Ace corporate, accusing Hillcrest Ace Hardware of promoting homosexuality. Bob Meanley, owner of the La Jolla Ace Hardware store, posted his letters on the Ace corporate network, which reaches all 5,000 Ace stores across the country.

“An Ace store in San Diego County is running TV ads that blatantly promote homosexuality with the Ace logo plastered all over the ad,” Meanley’s first letter said. “Guys dressed in drag doing some weird dance, an ‘in your face’ promotion of homosexuality.… Some of my customers are very offended by the ad and they want to know why we are promoting homosexuality. I try to explain that we are not promoting homosexuality but they say they saw ‘our ad’ on TV last night.… I consider homosexuality to be a lot like cigarette smoking. I think people should have the right to smoke if they wish. But I don’t want to be forced to breathe their second hand smoke.”

The 32-second commercial features several local drag performers from Lips Restaurant strutting down an in-store catwalk with paint cans and power tools in response to an inquisitive customer.

Bruce Reeves, owner of Hillcrest Ace Hardware, was surprised by the complaint. “We did a commercial last year that was just people walking through our store and a camera scan of the store, that was very ineffective,” he explained. “Cox Cable actually approached me to do a funnier commercial. They wanted to do a parody on the New York runways and using my employees.… I felt that that wasn’t going to be anything that anyone would pay attention to, and I didn’t have any employees that I felt could walk in heels.”

Reeves and others who worked on the commercial decided to approach some of the female impersonators who worked at Lips instead.

“[I]t just turned into a very funny, quirky commercial that is very eye-catching,” he said. “The majority of people when they look at it can’t even tell that these aren’t real women — that they’re female impersonators.”

The commercial has been running on E!, Bravo and Travel for six months, including spots on “Boy Meets Boy” and the first season of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” Reeves said he is not aware of any other complaints reported to Ace corporate, and said the positive feedback he has received from the commercial has boosted sales.

“[We]’ve been friends for years,” said Reeves of his working relationship with Meanley. “I’ve never had any issues with him before. I’ve sat down with him to dinner. When he opened his store years ago I helped him there. There has never really been any issue, and I think he feels that the commercial is running in his market and that is offending his customers, but I would like to remind him that there is a huge gay community in La Jolla, and that a tremendous amount of them come down to my store, but they probably shop his store, too.… I think it’s important that the people in La Jolla know when a business is so against what they stand for. What I think is important is that the San Diego gay community knows specific businesses who have such a feeling against them.”

Reeves said he was pleased with the response from Ace headquarters to Meanley’s first letter. “Ace has come back [saying] that each store has the right to go after their own market in any way that they see fit,” he said. “It was a show of support for my store and what we’ve done, but it wasn’t a blanket approval of what we do. It was just very neutral, which is from a very conservative company in the Midwest.… It was a very positive thing, I felt.”

Meanley’s second letter of complaint was posted several days later. “The Ace logo should not be associated with either side of controversial issues that are sure to be divisive.… what works for one dealer in the community may well work against a dealer in another community. This is not the way for a ‘team’ to operate.”

“In the second letter, he has now taken the issue up to a different level,” said Reeves. “He is moving into the gay rights movement and the gay marriage issue. So really the true issue is coming out.”

“OK, so the conservative viewpoint regarding homosexuality is not politically correct in today’s society,” Meanley’s second letter continued. “…Those values are offended by the assault that the gay movement is making on the Institution of Marriage… The gay movement is intent on pressing their assault on the institution of marriage. That is what my conservative customers most resent. I know this is difficult for many to understand. Religion is difficult for many to understand. But it is still sacred in the eyes of many.… Any dealer who wants to promote his own biased and controversial social agenda should not be allowed to link Ace to his position. I offer my apologies to any who may be offended by all this. But it has been thrust in my face and I am now being accused of homophobia. That’s like accusing a non-smoker of tobacophobia while blowing smoke in his face.”

According to Reeves, Meanley has not taken the complaint outside of the Ace Hardware community, but said that the issue was mentioned on a recent Howard Stern show. “I think that there are some people that are trying to get it to a national issue, but I don’t think it really needs to be a national issue since Ace corporate has taken a very positive stance on this,” Reeves said. “I think if Ace was to tell me to pull the commercial, I would have an issue with that but they are not telling me to pull the commercial.”

Ace corporate had not responded to the second letter as of press time. Reeves said he would not take any action regarding the letters of complaint until he hears the response from Ace corporate.

“I’m kind of just waiting and not doing anything rash, because I think it is very important to think things through before jump the gun on things,” Reeves said. “The best thing I think that is coming out of this — even if I don’t do anything — is the awareness of this issue that is being put across the nation in this very conservative industry. Everyone now is talking about this, which they never have before. I mean, we’re hardware; we talk about inventory and hammers and nails. They’re having to talk about a hardware store that has predominantly gay customers; do they have the right to advertise to them specifically.… If nothing happens and I don’t do anything, I still think it has been a phenomenal opportunity for conservative businesspeople across the nation to actually have to think about these things.”