Snickers ad pulled after complaints from gays

[The Straight Story]

Snickers ad pulled after complaints from gays
Candy maker will no longer run 'man-kiss' spot on television or Web site


HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. - A commercial for Snickers candy bars launched in the Super Bowl broadcast was benched after its maker got complaints that it was homophobic.

The ad showed two auto mechanics accidentally kissing while eating the same candy bar and then ripping out some chest hair to do something “manly.” One of the alternate endings on the Snickers Web site showed the men attacking each other.

The Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation complained to the maker of Snickers, Hackettstown-based Masterfoods USA, a division of Mars Inc., which also makes M&M’s and other candies.

The Web site also featured video of players from the Super Bowl teams reacting to the kiss.

“This type of jeering from professional sports figures at the sight of two men kissing fuels the kind of anti-gay bullying that haunts countless gay and lesbian school children on playgrounds all across the country,” Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said in a statement.

GLAAD spokesman Marc McCarthy said Tuesday the group believed “this kind of prejudice was inexcusable.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17011630/

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. nice one!

[The Straight Story]

2. I thought they were talking about my ad/thread for a sec :)

:rofl:

[JuniperLea]

3. It is homophobic

But I think it points out how stupid homophobes look! I'd rather see them look stupid than to whine about it.

And we all know they wouldn't have a problem with that accidental kiss if they were comfortable with their sexuality.

;)

[goclark]

4. Yea! And I still won't touch their prodcuts

Anyone who would think that would not be offensive is not sensitive to the public that they serve.

[blonndee]

5. This response almost certainly didn't take them by surprise,

as they initially submitted the ad to GLAAD prior to its airing and then withdrew their request for feedback. There's a thread citing this somewhere around here...if I can find it I'll edit and post the link.

[Maven]

12. Here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x136830

They knew exactly what they were doing.

[blonndee]

13. Thanks for the link! That's what I was thinking of. n/t

[Zookeeper]

6. "...complaints from gays."

I sent an email complaining about the ad and website and I let them know that I'm not gay. I hope they don't make this out to be a "whiny special interest group" issue.

[Lex]

8. Thanks Zookeeper. I caught that insinuation too.

nt

[earthlover]

7. Two ways to view this ad

The ad can be viewed more than one way. I saw it, and saw two guys apparently so insecure about their sexuality after accidentally "kissing" that they had to pull out some of their hair, something that would cause a lot of pain, just to show they are manly again. To me, it can be viewed as making fun of these guys for being so homophobic, poking fun of the pain some have to put themselves through to make sure they aren't viewed as gay when they aren't. It really to me showed the guys as acting very immature. So I am not sure that I agree with the idea that it was essentially homophobic.

[Lex]

9. For you yourself, you didn't see the homophobia.

I can certainly understand that.

Someone once said,

“It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive.”

I agree.

[Frank Cannon]

10. That's the way I saw it too

But apparently people were offended by it. But, then, there are people in this world who are offended by saran wrap.

My opinion is: If you don't like what you see on TV, turn the blasted thing off. If you're mad at M&M/Mars, don't buy their freaking candy.

All these threads about this stupid ad have made me SERIOUSLY jones for a Snickers, more than the dumb commercial did.

[MuseRider]

11. Complaints from gays.

You gay people just can't take it can you. Sheesh. Now it could have been a different headline, you know? PEOPLE complained. I am a people, not gay and I complained loudly, but they just had to put the onus right back on the victim. Damn, it just never ends but I am very glad they pulled it. Now if we can just get people to think, before they show something that ridicules and promotes violence against a group of people, about the messages first rather than later after millions of people have seen it we will have done something.

How I hate that we still have to do this.