Mars has pulled a television ad for Snicker's chocolate bars after a gay rights group complained that the ad was homophobic ... they say it depicts gay men in a stereotypically negative light.
So, did you find it offensive? Is a man who speed walks "a disgrace to the man race"? Is it "time to run like a real man"? Or is this just a stereotypical depiction of macho bluster from an over-the-top 1980's television actor?
The candy bar advertisement is one in a series featuring Mr. T (made famous in the tv series the
A-Team) and it was
created for a U.K. television audience by the Omnicon Group's AMV BBDO in London, England.
It features a man speed-walking along a residential street, the camera pans to a rear view of the man and zooms in on his butt and the exaggerated hip swaying that often comes along with speed-walking. Suddenly, a cammo'd flatbed pickup truck comes crashing through one of the homes and there is Mr. T, riding in the back of the truck, gripping a machine gun. He derides the speed-walker and then shoots some Snickers bars at him, closing out with the Snickers slogan "Get Some Nuts".
This is not the only ad from Mars Inc. where Mr. T demands the offending person "Get Some Nuts". There is one where a soccer player, after being dubiously kicked in the shins, is lolling around the pitch and Mr. T. smashes his way into a beautifully gated park in a tank, derides the soccer player for being a baby, throws a Snickers bar at the player's head and tells him to "Get Some Nuts". As you can see, Mars Inc. has not specifically targeted gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in other similar commercials.
Yet,
in 2007, there was an uproar over a commercial that Mars aired during the Super Bowl that showed two auto mechanics who accidentally end up kissing each other and then, attempt to regain their "manliness" by ripping out their chest hair. In a series of related ads, alternative endings show the duo hitting each other and drinking antifreeze and motor oil.
The
Human Rights Campaign Foundation (described as being
America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality) says that after raising their concerns about the advertisements being homophobic in a series of conversations with Mars Inc., they were pleased to report that the ad had been pulled from the airwaves.
Representatives from Mars Inc. are saying that they in no way meant the ad to be offensive to anyone.
