Hanes officials apologized for their contentious “faggot” ad. Rather than taking it like “men,” however, they pinned it on their advertising agents: “The ads were developed by advertising agency McCann Erickson for their own purposes and did not receive authorized approval from Hanes brands. We regret this episode and are taking steps to assure that such an event never occurs again. We apologize to all those offended by the ads. We, too, were offended.” [Towleroad]

Hanes underwear company gets a bit questionable with this new ad campaign. Joe of Joe.My.God fame has some questions about this ad’s objective: The tagline: “Because the world gives you enough labels.” The name of the campaign: “Lipstick”. The ad was created by the Bombay division of McCann Erickson. Strangely compelling image. Is that a dildo? Anybody seen this in American press? I can’t imagine even the gay press allowing the word “faggot” to appear in an ad, but in this context, who knows? Yes, that is a dildo and, if you look closely, you can see the words “no homophobia,” which seem pretty clear to us.

Your thoughts, readers?