An office colleague yesterday drew my attention to the fact that the miniature ‘finger of fudge’ in Cadbury’s Heroes is shown wearing distinctly Elton John-style spectacles http://corporate.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/products/190-cadbury-heroes-400g.aspx
Is this a deliberate jokey gay slur?
Naah. I had to think what the joke might be, and besides, that’s a mini-Fudge, not a finger.
I sincerely hope so. A friend of mine, now dead, who was a professional comedy writer once told me, “the real test of whether you have a sense of humor or not is if you can laugh at good jokes at the expense of things that you believe in.”
Ha! I doubt it. Perhaps it’s a sly joke on the part of the designers. In any case, I sincerely doubt that Cadbury’s is homophobic as the title suggests, seeing as they are a company founded with a strong Quaker ethic promoting tolerance.
The glasses, to me, are indicative of nothing more than rock-star flamboyance. “Gay” would not have come to mind without you having mentioned it first.
Beyond that, what exactly is the nature of the slur or homophobia you’re thinking of? A candy bar is wearing a pair of “Elton John-style spectacles,” and this is a slur or joke…how?
Finally, if Cadbury corporate were homophobic, I would think the last thing they’d ever want to do is connect their product in any way to homosexuality.
There’s one wearing a feather boa and you think the glasses are gay?
Talk about grasping at straws here. There is no conspiracy by cadbury against gays.
The title is a bit hyperbolic - I’m thinking more a cheeky joke by the graphic designer. The other chocolates have outfits vaguely related to their perceived character except this one, which may be a reference to the slur ‘Fudge-packer’ for a homosexual.
The candy at top left has a slingshot. (mischievous kid?)
The candy at top-center is wearing a crown. (royalty?)
The candy at top-right is wearing a feather boa. (Marilyn Monroe-type movie star?)
The candy at middle-left has hula hoops. (dancer/juggler/entertainer?)
The candy at middle-right has a beret and a painter’s pallette. (artist?)
The candy at bottom-left is wearing a Queen’s Guard hat and belt. (high-profile military?)
The candy at bottom right is wearing the Elton John-style glasses. (???)
You haven’t mentioned it yet, but I gather you’re also taking into account that the last candy has “fudge” written across its front.
If your immediate perception is that the last candy is some kind of reference to homosexual anal sex, well, I’m pretty sure that’s your mind at work, not the folks at Cadbury. You remind me of Martin Lawrence’s character in Boomerang, wherein he confidently identifies racist themes in a game of pool:
“…and the game is only over when the white ball knocks the black ball clear off the goddam table!”
Not that un-rich and famous people can’t have goofy eyewear, but these are almost halfway between Elton John and Bootsy Collins. Elton John has worn crazier glasses than this.
I’m pretty sure that the chances of a multinational corporation intentionally making an association between their comestible product and santorum are approximately zero.
This interpretation depends entirely on the premise that the star sunglasses are meant to evoke confirmed bachelor Elton John, but sometimes a pair of star sunglasses are just a pair of star sunglasses, and a quick check of the zeitgeist through the magic of Google utterly fails to support the notion that this type of novelty eyewear carries a connotation of homosexuality.
There is a connection in the other cases (albeit tenuous):
Twister (creme egg) - catapault - the childish choice.
Dairy Milk - crown - king of chocolates.
Caramel - boa - the sexy choice.
Twirl - hula-hoop - the frivolous rotational choice (?).
Eclair - beret - French/Continental
Bournville - bearskin - the traditional/British choice
Fudge - fabulous eyewear - What then?
Spectacular…spectacles…get it?
The Cadbury packaging is anti-monarchist. It shows crown-wearing royalty (top row, middle) and their guards (bottom row, left) as being equal to hula-hoop twirlers and slingshot-wielding miscreants.
Given that this is an illustration on a box of chocolates titled “Heroes”, I can’t see as how they would be doing this as a form of homophobia. If anything, it would be communicating that Elton John is a national hero.
Who may have gotten a little poop on his finger from time to time.
Eh, if it’s anything it’s cheeky, not a slur.
Maybe the candy goes both ways?
Up next: Peanut butter cup bisexuality? After all, “there’s no way to eat a Reese’s”…
Is he considered a bachelor if he’s in a civil partnership with David Furnish?
