The Snickers Ad
Just read an article where two groups, The Human Rights Campaign and The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation have spoken out against the Snickers ad from this years Superbowl.
I find it interesting that two groups that represent a minority of the people in the world, let alone the United States, has so much power as to make the makers of Snickers candy bars pull what may have been an effective ad. I’d link to somewhere you could watch the ad, but given the apparent complaints, there may not be anywhere you can go to watch it. For as long as its up you can go here to check it out. Please note, if you do not have high speed internet access you shouldn’t go to the website.
The point of the ad, in recap, is that two mechanics are working on a car. One pulls out a Snicker candy bar, rips the wrapper off, sticks one end in his mouth, and the other mechanic, apparently wanting some, starts to eat the candy bar from the opposite end. The meet in the middle. Some lip touching ensues. They state that they may have “man kissed” and then quickly make a decision as to what they should do to counteract the “man kiss.” The outcome, they rip chest hair (which DID NOT look real) from their chests and start to scream (roar???).
I thought the ad should be pulled. Honestly, I thought it was a bad advertisement. In the lineup of Superbowl ads, it was probably one of the worst ones. I did not laugh. And I thought that the company that owns the Snickers brand made a bad choice in choosing that as an advertisement strategy.
However, I don’t like a lot of advertisements. Pretty much anything the Carl’s Jr restaurant chain does for advertisements turns me off and makes me want to… anyway, I don’t like nor approve of a lot of things that have become acceptable and commonplace on television when it comes to hawking ones wares. The Snicker’s advertisement is an example of that.
So, in the sense that the advertisement needed to be pulled, I agree. However, I agree only because I think the advertisement speaks to the lowest common denominator among us and not to the general public. Granted, a large portion of the United States is the working class people; but I don’t believe they are this kind of working class people. This is bad advertising. It is bad stereotypes. And all of this (regardless of what the parent company thinks) turns into bad advertising.
The outcome, however, is that my opinion doesn’t really matter one iota. I am one man. Yet, you get groups like GLAAD and Human Rights Campaign and they pull their collective muscle, which really isn’t a lot, and the next thing you know a corporation publicly feels contrite because they may have offended a group of people.
I was offended. I didn’t laugh. I thought the commercial was a bad joke and one that shouldn’t have been perpetuated; but I was offended because it spoke to negative stereotypes and didn’t, necessarily, come across as anti-gay. In the United States the custom is that men don’t kiss. When they do, they are breaking custom. They become uncomfortable. They have to react to the situation. This is not anti-gay.
And yet, I would have to care. The quote that caught my attention was:
“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.
I defy this group to substantively prove that there are knowingly gay and lesbian school children. This is touching upon an area of life that they cannot prove. It is meant to affect the hearts of people. It is not accurate or responsible to have stated. And, moreover, the watchers of the NFL or the Superbowl, or any sporting event are about 10% of the overall population of the United States. Do you get that? It doesn’t matter what a sports figure does. They don’t matter. If your children, be they straight or allegedly gay or lesbian, are watching these games because these are their role models, the parents are doing something wrong.
Being gay on a schoolyard is not okay. It has never been okay. Children are trying to figure out what it means to be children. They are not worried about Billy or Suzy and what their sexual preference is. That is an adult thing to do. We have a president (of the United States) that is forcing children to be tested more and more and more and making the whole educational process a pretty freaking large farce and yet, we allow a group that represents (probably) less than two percent of the population dictate what a corporation does. That’s sad.
Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that the ad is being pulled. I applaud the groups that can get something that stupid removed from the airways because I think it represents a very poor side of our nation. But I don’t, I will never, agree with the notion that this is bad for our school children because they have decided, before they even realize who they are, that they have a specific sexual preference.
Bullying happens on the school yard because children are different; not because they are gay or lesbian. Speak to the real issues. Stop producing offensive commercials that are designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. And start advertising in a way that makes sense.
Comments