Snickers pulls "smooch" ad after 'Homophobic' complaints
After a Cartoon Network advertising campaign that triggered fears of terrorism in the Boston area last week, now a commercial for Snickers candy bars has sparked a controversy.
The Snickers commercial, which first aired in the U.S. during the Super Bowl, showed two burly mechanics sharing a Snickers bar by eating it from both ends. The commercial showed two men reacting to having almost kissed.
The campaign triggered an outcry among gay and human rights groups, who condemned the ad saying it promoted anti-gay prejudice and condoned violence against gay Americans.
The candy maker posted three alternate endings to the commercial and reactions from NFL players on its Web site. One of the alternate endings showed the men attacking each other. The site also showed videos of NFL players reacting with disgust at the depiction of two men kissing.
Annoyed with the commercial that showed the two auto mechanics accidentally touch their mouths and then react by pulling out a clump of chest hair to "do something manly," the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) complained to the maker of Snickers, Masterfoods USA, a Hackettstown-based division of Mars Inc., which also makes M&M's and other candies.
"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 schoolchildren on playgrounds all across the country," Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said in a statement.
GLAAD also called the commercial and the Web site “inexcusable."
After getting complaints that the commercial for Snickers candy bars was homophobic, MasterFoods decided to pull it with immediate effect. In a statement issued late Monday, MasterFoods spokeswoman Alice Nathanson said the company did not intend to offend anyone and has decided to stop running the commercials on television and the Web site.
Nathanson said the ad was merely intended to capture the attention of core Snickers consumer. She admitted that the humor in the ad was highly subjective and for some the campaign was of offensive nature.
Produced by TBWA/Chiat/Day New York, the ad is the first time since 2001 that a Snickers spot was featured in the Super Bowl.
MasterFoods said that the feedback for the 30-second Super Bowl spot from its target audience had been positive.
Last week, another ad campaign from Turner Broadcasting Systems caused trouble in the Boston area. As part of the campaign, the firm installed the blinking electronic devices depicting a middle-finger-waving moon man at nine cities around Boston. Dotted with blue and purple lights, the devices were mistaken for a plot to bomb.
Turner later took the whole responsibility and apologized for the marketing tactic and the trouble it caused. It also agreed to pay $2 million in compensation.
Snickers ad pulled???
Everyone I know, including me, thought the ad was awesome. And for you to pull it for all the reasons you hear why on the TV or Radio are not good enough reasons to do so. It was funny, no kids, gays or church people I know where offended in anyway. If you allowed it to run, your sales would sky rocket.
snickers ad
I'm so tired of you self righteous liberal twits trying to "change the world for the better" when all you're doing is making it worse, between YOU (glaad), PETA, and several other organization very similar, by the way its always the same people that belong to ALL of them, trying to dictate what NON-homosexual average Americans, can and can't do is utterly ridiculous and selfish on your part. QUIT trying to make it out to be more than what it is..IT'S A JOKE, TAKE YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR BEHINDS AND ACCEPT IT AS THAT!!! It’s not meant to be "GAY BASHING" its not meant to harm animals or anything else. Deal with it and learn to LAUGH instead of CRITISIZE EVERYTHING.