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February 5th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Lynne, I think you’re misunderstanding the ad. If anything, it’s a male-bashing commercial. It’s playing off the stereotype of what it is to be “manly.” In their view, being manly means being violent or macho.
It’s actually pretty satirical. Look at the length these men will go to in order to appear manly. It’s ridiculous and obviously silly.
So save the outrage for another day.
February 5th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Josh, YOU are misunderstanding the ad.
What if it was an interracial couple, and then on a website somewhere, famous guys (Superbowl players) reacted very badly to seeing it? Is that something we’d tolerate? No? Then why is it OK to do it in this case?
Mars, the company, is not known for its progressivism, so honestly, this ad doesn’t surprise me.
This ad targets anyone with homophobia, because only those sorts of people would find this situation funny. They then go further and say, better to be dead, poisoned, or beat up then be thought of as gay. That’s homophobia. The reactions of the players on the website - homophobia.
In an equal world where homophobia is not the mainstream, this ad isn’t really at all funny, just stupid. Just like once, there was a world where if a black man married a white woman, people would flinch or outright object (sometimes violently, or legally) to it.
Does the fact that you find it funny make it right?
February 5th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I’m not into sports,I did not see the add so I will not comment on the content.
What frightens me is someone that can make the following statements.
“Mars, the company, is not known for its progressivism, so honestly, this ad doesn’t surprise me.
This ad targets anyone with homophobia, because only those sorts of people would find this situation funny”
#1 I’m impressed that you are so informed on corporate politics. Maybe George W. sold some of his Exon stock and bought Mars to bring it into the vast right wing conspiracy.
#2 How you can be so sure that there is something inherently wrong with anyone that might find humor in
anything that doesn’t amuse you.
Lynne, if your pedestal gets any higher we won’t be able to see you anymore.
February 5th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JHkoZ7ngAM0
Here’s one of the ads on YouTube. I didn’t see the ads or the alternate endings on the Snickers website.
February 6th, 2007 at 10:49 am
It’s well known Mars is right wing. Lots of people have linked to things they’ve lobbied for. They are privately held, too, therefore not beholden to shareholder, either.
And it’s obvious to anyone with a brain how those ads would be percieved. If there were no homophobes in the world, that ad wouldn’t be funny. Do you dispute that?
February 6th, 2007 at 11:46 am
But they are lampooning homophobes and the whole “manly” crowd that goes along with it.
Lynne, something tells me that you wouldn’t get the message of shows like “All in the Family” and “Chapelle’s Show” or movies like “Borat” and “Blazing Saddles.” It just seems to go right over your head.
February 6th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
You walk away from “All in the Family” thinking ‘The bigot is funny because his attitude is so wrong’. You don’t walk away from (even the mild version) of the commercial thinking ‘the guys are funny because their attitude about thier kis is so wrong’… you walk away from it thinking ‘the guys are funney because the fact that they kissed is so wrong.’
February 6th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Yes, I get All in the Family and Chapelle’s Show, thanks.
However, I don’t think that’s the intent of this ad at all. And I think it would be ludicrous to think otherwise. It was, at best, insensative to the message it portrays.
I repeat, if this was an interracial couple, and somone was acting all disgusted about it, no one would tolerate a joke at its expense. Would they?
February 6th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
As my 11 year old said at the time, “Dad, that was disgusting”. He’s right, it was. I can’t believe how brain dead the advertising firm must have been to connect a truly disgusting moment with eating a Snickers. Mars tried to have it both ways - their was plenty in the ad to think it was both pro-homosexual (did you catch the look in the guy’s eye that went for the candy bar?) and homophobic. So you’ve got just about everyone (except for those of you who are just desperate to be politically correct) dumping on the ad. Advertising Age called it the biggest blunder of the Super Bowl. It was gross and as usual, stereotyped men as complete idiots. Way to go, Mars!
February 7th, 2007 at 1:00 am
This post…. Perhaps the most ridiculous post I’ve ever seen on this site.
Who the watches a Snickers ad during the Super Bowl and then says “Typical… Mars in notoriously right wing.” You’d get the boot if you were at my Super Bowl party.
I’m far from a homophobe, but I cracked a smile.
But it looks like the PC crowd wins again on this one. I just saw that the ad has been pulled.
I also saw that Kevin Federline issued an apology to anyone who is offended by his Super Bowl ad where he stars as a fast-food worker. The US National Restaurant Association claimed the ad was insulting to fast-food workers.
What the hell ever happened to sticks and stones??? How thin skinned can people be???
Maybe Anheuser-Busch should appoligize to any crabs that might have been offended for being depicted as worshiping a cooler of beer.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:45 am
M&M Mars also had a video on its website of football players watching the ads and reacting to the kiss with disgust and horror. So if they didn’t intend homophobia here, they need to fire whoever runs their webpage.
February 7th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Actually Lynne and I both cracked a smile at the ad we saw on TV, which wasn’t so bad. There were alternate versions on the web (and that may have been broadcast in other markets) that were pretty bad though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0oEz6FOnYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8c95nI3Mg0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfnVo72kO2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onD7wCmTJ58
February 7th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Lynne, what do you think would have been the reaction if it had been two women kissing in the commercial? Of course the football players would love it! They embody the stereotype of the macho man.
Take the focus off the gay aspect and look at what it says about masculinity.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
I agree Josh… it does also say something about masculinity. Just understand it says something about how homophobia (and least male to male homophobia) is wrapped up in concepts of masculinity.
February 7th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Josh, come on. M&M is not here to begin a dialogue on the subject of masculinity. As they themselves said, they’re trying to tap in to the 18-24 year old male demographic with the meesage of “ewwww, sick.” The NFL logo was on the Mars website with all the videos. If you really think the message is something along the lines of what immature dolts and parodies of masculinity are these morons who get paid millions to take hits from other guys and cry like old women while watching two guys accidentally almost kiss….uh, that’s a bit meta. Not so sure that’s how they’re trying to move their product.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:27 am
The sun must be rising in the west tomorrow. I’m agree with Josh.
At least the first youtube link in Mr Lynne’s comment is lampooning homophobes. It looks a lot more like “Jay and Silent Bob strike back” than “Focus on the Family.”
As to Lynne’s request to substitute an inter-racial kiss, there is actually quite a lot of would-be funny stuff on people of different races finding themselves repulsed by their connections to each other. The movie Lost in America has a quite a lot of that sort of thing between Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson.