Another Homophobic Ad

UPDATE...

It was announced yesterday that Mars has pulled the ad referred to below.

Mars issued this statement late Thursday:

"This ad is the second in a series of U.K. Snickers Ads featuring Mr. T which are meant to be fun and which have been positively received in the U.K. However, we understand that humor is highly subjective, and it is never our intention to cause offense. Accordingly, we have pulled the Mr. T speed walker ad globally."

HRC (Human Rights Campaign) Workplace director Daryl Herrschaft said "HRC applauds Mars for taking swift and appropriate action."

Thanks to everyone who expressed their feelings about this ad to the Mars Corporation. Good work!

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It seems that the misguided folks over at the ad agency Omnicom (producer of other homophobic ads in the past) are at it again.

This time they have Mr. T "machine-gunning" a young, blond male who is doing nothing more than speed walking down a sidewalk. Mr. T bursts through a house in a modified pickup truck with a gatling-type machine gun, manned by Mr. T, mounted in the back. He shouts at the hapless walker that he is "a disgrace to the man race" and that "it's time to run like a real man" then starts shooting him with snickers bars. Check out the ad for yourself...




This might not seem like such a big deal but when we have right-wing, religious fanatics calling on their congregation to literally shoot gay people (see my June 6th posting), this suddenly becomes very serious and in incredibly poor taste. Even though it could be argued that this isn't necessarily an anti-gay ad, the image they chose to use is that of a thin, young man who "swishes" while walking. That clearly plays off of the stereotypical image that most of the ignorant and uninformed religious fanatics have of gay men.

To express your dissatisfaction and/or outrage at this kind of advertising go to snickers.com This is a direct link to their contact form.

I found this story at queersunited.com through a headline on Yahoo's Gay/Lesbian News.