“Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker” reveals the story of legendary illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, a forgotten artist whose work defined early 20th-century advertisements and whose life as a gay man had to be lived in the shadows through his art. The documentary explores Leyendecker's legacy and LGBTQ+ history while challenging us to learn from it.

P&G highlights the importance of LGBTQ+ visibility in advertising, from the coded advertisements of the early 1900s with brands including Ivory and Gillette to the out-and-proud ads of today with brands like Pantene. The film integrates Leyendecker’s story with the contemporary example of transgender model Jari Jones to show both the progress made in LGBTQ+ visibility and the vigilance required to maintain the accurate and authentic portrayal of LGBTQ+ people in media.

The resulting 27-minute film revisits hidden LGBTQ+ representation in advertising in Leyendecker’s art and examines his legacy in the context of modern LGBTQ+ representation, weaving documentary interviews with experts and historians, beautifully animated recreations of Leyendecker’s life and narration from Neil Patrick Harris.

The film won the jury prize for Best Documentary Short at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, the GLAAD Special Recognition Award and was voted onto the Oscars Shortlist by the Academy of Motion Pictures. It has won numerous audience and jury awards across over 17 film festivals and was acquired/purchased by Viacom/MTV for digital distribution on Paramount+, where it ranks among the top documentaries on the platform.

Additionally, P&G partnered with GLAAD to create The Visibility Project as an extension of the film to foster greater LGBTQ+ representation in advertising and provide support to companies and brands to carry on Leyendecker’s legacy of LGBTQ+ visibility at a time when many in the community are being threatened by regressive legislation and bigotry.