Maybe it’s because a candy like Mars Inc.’s Snickers is so easily associated with “fudge packing” that the chocolate bar’s ad agencies feel the need to release one homophobic ad after another.
A 2007 Super Bowl ad showed two auto mechanics accidentally kissing while gobbling down the same Snickers bar; they pulled away from each other, repulsed. That ad, from TBWA New York, had even worse scenarios in the online version, including one of the mechanics attacking the other with a wrench.
Woof
That commercial is awful
Woof
…I miss the Heinz deli guy (sigh)
twistitagain
I fail to see how this commercial is offensive to gay men. I am a gay man with many gay friends and none of them, to my knowledge, are speed walkers. Speed walkers of America unite and fight work your pedestrian rights. Gay people… no one was talking about you… so shut up.
Oh yeah… that other Snickers ad with the mechanics… was funny. There is nothing wrong with straight men thinking its gross to kiss other men. They’re straight. Its expected. My fellow gays… its not all about us. Take a pill.
REBELComx
I made this comment on another blog. But I don’t see this ad as being homophobic…stupid, yes. But not gay bashing.
Mr. T clearly states that he’s after the guy because he’s power walking. And if you actually watch powerwalkers, that’s how they walk. Gay or straight. It’s an activity that makes EVERYONE look incredibly ridiculous. The guy doesn’t yelp like a nancy boy after getting hit with the candy bars. I don’t see anything effeminate enough about the guy to think he’s clearly gay. Who doesn’t make fun of that goofy hips wiggling, iron bent arm swinging, practicly no knees bending power walk?
Scooter Bangs
I’m on board as saying this ain’t homophobic. it’s a tad stupid and i don’t want to eat anything associated with the racially awkward caricature of Mr. T (yes, I’m gay and of color. I gotta patrol both sides of the street.)but I’m saving my gay foul flag for something significant.
Actually, whining about this ad would re enforce Mr.T’s silly “not manly enough’ rant.
CondeNasty
Yeah, its stupid and not really anti-gay. We have bigger fish to fry.
mark
It could be worse, as the ad does represent heteros as Mr T…..ugh!
An Other Greek
and, btw, fyi, Mr. T is a warm, charming, loving person, and not homophobic in the least.
glad to see he’s making $$’s again.
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Chad
Of course this ads route is based in homophobia and bullying and anyone not seeing that baffles me.The ad is not ok and for the bend over to please straight society at any cost crowd,you’re the ones with the problems. Oh and I have a great sense of humor,but i guess the thug in this commerical is black right,hmm.
Chad
meant to say this ad’s root not route
Paul Raposo
Although Chad does make a good point about bullying, for me, Mr T can do no wrong–I love the man. And power walkers can look ridiculous. A neighbour power walks daily and a few times that I’ve stopped to chat with him, he will continue to power walk in place whcih can be very distracting. Especially with his junk bouncing around.
An Other Greek, it’s ggod to know Mr T is not a homophobe.
ugotmeinsd_619
This is a stupid commercial. It’s trying to stereotype gay people…Chad made a good point about bullying which is never good in our society.
What I find interesting is that (and now I’m stereotyping) the ad agencies I know of are run by the gays. SO if that is true its amazing that they went down this road.
walt zipprian
Yeah, I don’t see the gay stereotyping.
I see an ad making fun of speedwalkers.
fri
um, this ad clearly makes violence against men who aren’t considered “masculine” enough something funny to laugh about. but this is a serious issue for a lot of men, gay or straight or whatever. the whole grow some nuts tagline is ridiculous also, and all around presents a normalization of violent hypermasculine behavior as OK.
oh, and the way white people love laughing at mr.t’s antics definitely has some very racist undertones to it.
dizzy spins
God some people seriously need to lighten up. If we got rid of humor that poked fun at violence, gender roles, and outdated pop culture references…we’d be watching standup at the Michigan’s Womyn Festival.
Scooter Bangs
Chad, thanks for making my point about the myopic insensitivity of gay viewers. Obviously the complexity of Mr. T’s angry, yet lovable, black man persona is lost on you. It’s not about Mr. T being racist, it’s about the use of his PERFORMATIVE to sell crap like candy. And the rest of us ‘bend over’ people will try not to bend over anymore. Whatever that meant.
FRI (no 14) makes an interesting point about hypermasculinity. Bullying is wrong, but as a gay man I have always looked more like Mr. T than Zac Efron, so I don’t see a ‘gay’ response to comic manliness.
The Truth Fairy
Advertising is aspirational, setting the tone in our culture by associating brands with ideal behaviors. This is why what Omnicom Group (it’s a holding company, not an agency) agencies TBWA and BBDO are playing with dangerous fire here.
While many of us here on the internets are very happy to proclaim we “get this on s deeper level”, the target audience for these ads are young men, insecure in their sexuality, and who statistics show are the most frequent perpetrators of anti-gay violence. While TBWA and BBDO are by no means to blame for causing prejudice, they are to blame for bolstering it by validating the beliefs of an age group that starves for validation and a sense of belonging.
It is the job of agency people to know culture, and these jerks knew exactly what they were doing.
CHURCHILL-Y
Would love to see those bigger fish that we can finally fry. They have to be those mythical 200 tons invisible Blue Whales. Is it any wonder why the GLBT community remains so f&cked up.
On the bright side at least Mr. T didn’t kill the guy.
queerunity
i think this ad more so than being homophobic is being against male gender identity expression
http://www.queersunited.blogspot.com
Smokey Martini
This ad is not about being gay at all. It’s about being masculine, which may or may not imply gayness. That is, it only implies homophobia if you yourself associate gays with being effeminate.
But this hits close to home for me. Not because I’m gay (and more masculine than the implied queer); but more because I’m nerdy. As someone not into ‘manly’ things like ball-playing, bike-riding, or wrestling, I have felt the effects of being denigrated for not being ‘one of the boys.’ Yes, it hurts – especially when your dad or a brother in law tells you or your nephew that you’re a bad example just because you read more than the ‘typical guy’.
So I personally take offense to this ad and feel that no one should be bullied because of their masculinity — and hence, their implied queerness.
Smokey Martini
On that note: I wonder how many of these companies have non-discrimination clauses in their workplace ethics when it comes to sexual orientation. Or, better yet: benefits for GLBTQ employees and their partners.
key
NUIR, guess what?
I hate your SPAM.
Snoodle
I don’t see it as homophobic per-say…but stupid and in general bad taste, yes.
todd
Has anyone speed walked since Mr. T has been popular? I don’t think so. This commercial is just stupid and irrelevant. The Ad people are obviously bankrupt of ideas.
Sean
I’m sorry, but I’m gay, and I usually think I’m much more liberal than my gay friends, but I thought this was funny. People should hate on speedwalkers. They suck. But oh, if I say they ‘suck’ then that’s homophobic too, right? I’m implying they suck cock, and there something wrong with that. Yada yada. How can the same site that defended Family Guy’s old gay pedophile guy, get outraged about this commercial?
DiverDaveC
This is a stupid commercial, but anti-gay? No way! There’s nothing to suggest (implicit or othewise) that the walker is gay. If he was skipping down the street with a pride flag shirt and someone started firing at him, then we’d have reason to bitch. Otherwise, this is just another “America on testosterone” example of bad advertising ideas.
Orange County Advertising Agency
It’s just a bad ad.