This is so totally absurd. Whoever came up with that lunacy about there being no such thing as bad publicity is just wrong. Yes, the commercial got my attention. Yes, I might be talking about it. Yes, I’ll remember Snickers. I’ll remember that when I’m in the mood for a candy bar, I’ll buy anything BUT a Snickers bar. And I guarantee you that that is NOT what the Snickers people want me to remember.
Mad TV’s Gay Straight Guys. (utv)
Not offensive. Also not the slightest bit funny and a whole lot dumb.
In the Ruby House, the ad solicited loud groans from the hetero males in the room. I found it mildly amusing but certainly not offensive. There are plenty of other battles that are more crucial than whether or not Snickers is gay-friendly. I wish those offended do-gooders would use their energy to get legislation on the books for gay rights instead of blowing a lot of steam about a silly Snickers commercial.
This ad comes from the same meme as beer ads with people doing incredibly stupid things eg. men walking trying to walk through a window because there’s a case of Bud Light on the other side.
It’s just a dumb ad. If you’re reading more into it, you’ve got too much time on your hands.
Do you think most people who watched that commercial are like you?
Look, I’m not defending the ad execs who put out that ad. I’m just saying that you have to be naive to think Mars is going to fire anyone for producing that ad. That presumes that the top dogs were completely blindsided by the content of the commercial, which is an insane idea given that it was specifically made for the Superbowl. With all the money tied up in it, lots of people had to have signed off on that thing before it aired. And it’s created a buzz and I’m 99% positive that’s exactly what they were going for when they concocted the thing. If someone gets axed for it, it’ll only be a meaningless scapegoating ritual to appease the public. It won’t be because a mistake was made.
Not all publicity is good, this is true. But I don’t think this publicity is as bad as you and others might think it is.
They might have done a “two hot babes” commercial, but Miller beat them to it.
I don’t think the ad is homophobic - quite the contrary in fact - it portrays heterosexual people overreacting to something they mistakenly perceive as a homosexual act - if anything, it portrays heterosexual people in a slightly bad light.
BTW, it’s not a new joke - it appears in this movie, for example.
I haven’t seen the ad and I don’t intend do. Based on the descriptions I’ve read–and I’ve read at least one on every blog and message board I’ve visited this week–I’d have to the same thing to the gay rights groups protesting this that I said to the conservatives who became hysterical about Janet Jackson’s nipple two years ago (or was it three years ago?), namely that if you want to see only material that’s tasteful and inoffensive you should not have been watching the Super Bowl.
Personally, I think it’s quite funny and well-executed. Much more entertaining that JJ’s nips
I’m with those who thought it was kind of funny (though it wasn’t the best SB ad IMHO) and certainly not a slam against homosexuals. Several of my (and my wifes) friends were over to watch the game (and smoke cigars and drink heavily of course 
) who were in fact homosexuals…and none of them exclaimed they were offended. It never occured to me that there WOULD be ‘fallout’ from that ad when I saw it.
As for the fallout…I doubt whether Mars will do anything at all, nor do I think they should. Certainly I doubt the ad team who put this together is going to get dumped.
-XT
I have to agree that the ad appears to mock homophobia much more than homosexuals.
I think it’s the recordings of the disgusted reactions of the NFL players that’s insulting. Seriously, that was overkill. What was the point of that?
In other news, children’s welfare groups are campaigning to ban all writings of the 18th century Irish author Jonathon Swift from public schools on the grounds that he advocated the mass slaughter of orphans in his essay “A Modest Proposal.”
:rolleyes:
That’s how I see it, too. The moral of the story is that people who would freak out by accidentally man-kissing are fucking idiots.
That said, I also said to my friends at teh conclusion of that commercial, “Welp, we’ll be hearing about this one for a while.”
I had a feeling this ad was going to cause a problem when I saw it. The ad does play the “tough men kissing is funny” angle, but that’s not too bad. The endings are worse - the violent beating is going to bother people no matter how you explain it. But I thought the news that the football players’ reactions were supposed to be the real problem. I know there’s supposed to be humor in the reactions because they’re grossed out by a commercial, but that leaves you wondering if that’s how they really feel about gays. That’s more immature than anything in the ad.
I don’t agree very much with the bloggers’ analysis, however. The message in the overreactions is not “it’s better to die than be gay.” It’s “some guys will do ridiculous, moronic things to avoid being thought of as gay” and/or “straight guys are comically uncomfortable with people thinking they’re gay.” Which I think is basically true.
Having finally seen the Super Bowl ad, I’m in the “silly joke” category more than anything else.
But I think the idea of the fourth web-only ad – where one of the guys gets physically assaulted – was a bit much.
I thought it was amusing. And even though neither guy was very good looking, somewhat arrousing.
And if you ask me, ripping out one’s chest hair doesn’t seem so manly-it looked more like they were trying to wax themselves. Hee hee!
Very funny and not offensive. Of course, if I were homophobic I’d be very offended, and rightfully so. But I’m wondering whether even one Snickers Bar was sold, as a result of the commercial.
I imagine some gay dudes might be a bit squicked if they touched lips with a chick, or some lesbians might be a bit squicked if some dude lip locked them, and as a het dude, I would be a bit squicked if I touched lips with a dude. Wouldn’t freak out, but I am not attracted to dudes, so what.
That is not homo/heterophobia. Reactions afterwords may well be. I’m on the fence about the ad. And there should be a word for where we don’t “fear or have contempt for” those of opposite sexual inclination, we just aren’t into it.