Snickers Ad Out Over Homophobia Complaints

[angelmom]

I am a single woman. I might want to date one of the guy these other single women are picking up in bars. I'd like a commercial to get them to wear condoms so by the time he gets around to me, he's clean... in case I fall in love and want to marry him.

There is truth (some) to every stereotype. Everyone knows it. If there wasn't a grain of truth - no one would "get it." It doesn't make it wrong to reflect society if you are also suggesting a fix to it, in my opinion. You can actively CHANGE stereotypes if you acknowledge them as such. Perhaps the one commercial of the mistreated maid or the drug addict mother can show them how to get out of that situation and into a better one.

The situations can be real, why lie?

As for snickers - there was no violence toward each other, they remained friends. It was "okay" with them - they just wanted to pretend it wasn't by conforming to societies norms by the "do something manly" comment. I kind of thought it would make it more "normal" and relax some the uptight homophobes. SOMEDAY, it would be nice if people could see that the world is made up of real people - and all kinds of people - and that it always has been and always will be - so get used to it.

Someday will come sooner, if we show that through tv, commercials, radio and our own behavior.

Good post! I don't get why this was offensive. To me, the message was that Snickers is so delicious and tempting and yummy that you'd go against your own nature or judgement to get one. The assumption is that both men are straight.

Kind of like that dorky kid climbing through and over cars on a busy street to get Mentos. Where were the advocacy groups when we wished that stinker would get pulled?

 

[Dena]

I saw the commercial when it first aired and I didn't like it. I didn't find it offensive, I just thought it was dumb and over done.

I was pretty surprised when I heard about the controversy surrounding it, but then I thought about it more. One thing that I think of is that after the 2 guys kiss, they say something like "quick, do something manly". Now thinking about that statement, they're basically saying that two men kissing is not manly, you are not a man if you kiss another man.
Again, I wasn't offended by it all, just trying to analyze it as to why it would be offensive. It is very easy to have a sense of humor when you are not the minority that is being poked fun at, so I can't relate and my non objection as a straight woman is really of little importance.
Being gay is not something that is widely accepted yet. Didn't we just have two young girls take their life because they were scared to come out? I understand the commercial and the fun it was trying to have, but I also see how it is too sensitive a topic to mess with.

 

[Nova]

It is very easy to have a sense of humor when you are not the minority that is being poked fun at...

Thank you, Dena, and welcome to WS.

I was trying to make that point, but it was hard to do so honestly because I'm the only gay voice here at the moment and the commercial doesn't bother me.

But that doesn't mean it isn't a problem for others.

And where's the harm? The company got more p.r. from pulling the ad than they could have gotten from running it. And GLAAD and the HRC got their points heard.

Everybody wins here, if you ask me.

 

[Crow_Ascending]

Everyone's missed the point here. The commercial was neither anti-gay nor pro-gay. It was anti-auto mechanic and I expect we'll be hearing from the Auto Mechanics Anti-Defamation league shortly!

 

[Nova]

Everyone's missed the point here. The commercial was neither anti-gay nor pro-gay. It was anti-auto mechanic and I expect we'll be hearing from the Auto Mechanics Anti-Defamation league shortly!

When you put it that way, I see you're right. Everyone knows real gays won't kiss sloppy grease monkeys.

So the joke's on them. :laugh:

(Welcome to WS!)

 

[JBean]

I think I just heard on CNN that GM had to pull their SB ad about the depressed machine that dreamed it was jumping off the bridge.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/09/news/companies/gm_robotad/?postversion=2007020915

GM changing robot suicide ad

Automaker agrees to changes after meeting with suicide prevention group that objected to spot showing fired robot jumping off bridge.

February 9 2007: 3:31 PM EST


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors has decided to change an ad that had shown an assembly-line robot throwing itself off a bridge after making a mistake, two days after it said it was sticking with the spot in the face of criticism.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention had issued a statement Wednesday saying that the ad that first aired during the Super Bowl sends dangerous and insensitive messages, and it asked members of the public to write to the automaker and ask that the ad be pulled