Homosexuals Are Disgusting, But Snickers Really Satisfies™
At least, that’s the implied message of Snickers’ current ad campaign that made it’s debut at the Superbowl. John from Americablog has been all over this story. The commercial shown during the game was juvenile and slightly offensive, but the rest of the campaign is horrifying. The website (which has been pulled down) featured three alternate versions of the commercial, including this one in which the mechanics’ reaction to accidentally kissing is to gay-bash each other :
But even more disturbing are the video “extras” from the website in which NFL players are visibly disgusted by the two men kissing and letting the audience know why homosexuals “ain’t right”.
So…how is embracing bigotry supposed to sell chocolate? I don’t really get the connection.
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I full on support homosexuals - they should marry, adopt, be able to inherit their partners’ property, etc. - but I think two men kissing is gross, especially those two guys.
I also think anal fisting is gross, but I’m not telling people not to do it. I guess I’m glad Snickers didn’t have an anal fisting commercial.
Comment by ChrisV82 — February 5, 2007 @ 5:43 pm
Only gestapo-gays are gonna be offended by a humorous commercial poking fun at two obviously non-queer guys accidentally kissing and getting weirded out by it. I applaud the Snickers folks for actually remembering to have a sense of humor - oh, and for remembering that free speech means freedom to actually express an opinion held by the majority of Americans even if that opinion happens to offend the tiny population of violently militant homosexuals. I swear, every time I read your site I think that for all my votes for Democrats I must actually be a conservative when it comes to social issues.
Comment by Jason — February 5, 2007 @ 6:48 pm
Congrats ChrisV82, you win a prize for Most Irrelevant Comparison.
Comment by Kyle — February 5, 2007 @ 6:54 pm
Jason, since when has there been a tiny population of “violent” and “militant” homosexuals? While I have heard countless stories of gays (and suspected gays) getting the shit beat out of them in high school, not to mention literally murdered, ostracised, shunned by their families, etc, I have yet to hear of a single “gestapo-gay”–nor has Greg said that the Snickers folks should be arrested and locked up for what they’ve done. What Greg IS advocating is to make our free voices heard, which is also our right. It’s also our right as consumers not to buy the products of bigots. And it is our right to decry bigotry and hate when we see it.
BTW, Jason, if you’re a Democrat, then I’m a virgin.
In other news, earlier I had a really great joke about how people who work at Snickers are literally fudge-packers, but I must not have posted it! Anyway, it was good.
Comment by dAnimal — February 5, 2007 @ 7:00 pm
Jason:
Hah hah, “queers.” Faggo- Oh, Wait.
First, and this is important because apparently You didn’t bother paying attention in civics class - Advertisments aren’t Opinion Columns. A snickers commercial isn’t supposed to advocate a point of view “held by the majority of Americans” A snickers commercial is supposed to have one opinion: “Buy Snickers.”
Second, look Jason. I know being a concern troll is hard work, what with claiming to be a Democrat but somehow just always managing to find a reason why the conservative argument is oh-so-more-compelling, but if you’re going to slur those homovoting Fagtivists, you know, the people who have the audacity to consistently support the positions they’ve publicly expressed support for, at least try shooting for a little creativity.
For example: Um, Gay Gestapo? What the hell are you doing man, trying out for the America’s Funniest Home Videos of Gay bashing? Dane Cook could do better than that. Hell, I could do better than that.
In fact, here, let me try:
Obviously the word you were looking for was GayStapo. And also, you could have accused them of practicing Fagscism. Jesus man, I completely disagree with your entire point and it took me all of two seconds to think of these better and, not to too my own own horn, obviously funnier suggestions. I just pulled them out of my ass. But then, you could have pulled them out of your ass if your head wasn’t shoved so far up it.
Meanwhile, you claim that you’re a Democrat. How convenient that you attack us from the right and yet somehow managed to vote for the party who supports the exact opposite of the position you’re yelling against.
Here’s a hint Jason - If you’re “conservative” on social issues, you’re a “conservative”. Oh, you might be registered as a democrat but come on, who are we kidding here? You vote Republican every time and only stay registered as a Democrat so you can drool your unctious moral superiority over everyone you meet like the slime from a pretentious, preachy toad. I doubt you support universal health care, I’ll bet you support the War on Terror as waged by George Bush, I bet you love tax cuts and probably think minimum wage is a bad thing. Go give Republican warts to someone else, or at least have the balls to state your convictions without giving Liberalism a bad name.
Comment by Ross Lincoln — February 5, 2007 @ 8:12 pm
ChrisV82, you said this:
Chris, I’m not going to make fun of you because I think, though I’m not entirely sure, that you’re making a joke.
Unfortunately, you seem to have made the same mistake Jason did, and are confused as to what the hell we’re actually upset about. Let me ’splain:
No One Is Suggesting That Two Guys Experiencing Discomfort From Accidentally Kissing Isn’t Potentially Funny.
Pause so you can let that sink in.
WHAT WE’RE FREAKING OUT ABOUT IS THE FACT THAT THEIR REMEDY FOR BEING WEIRDED OUT IS TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF EACH OTHER AND PUNISH THE GAY!!!!
Now that you’ve done considering that, I have a wacky commercial for you: White guy working on a car with his Black Female friend. They accidentally kiss. Then he beats the shit out of her to wash the taste of race Mixing out of his mouth.
Or How about guy kisses girl during snickers. She freaks out. He rapes her to do something manly.
Sound disturbing to you? Good because it should. Now, try imagining what the actual commercial would feel like if you were gay.
Also, and this should go without saying - Anal Fisting is a voluntary sexual act. Getting the shit beaten out of you for being gay is not voluntary. That might be why people are a bit touchy about this.
Comment by Ross Lincoln — February 5, 2007 @ 8:27 pm
Bit of irony here…
You defend gays, Greg, but recall erroneously a player’s remark as “that ain’t right,” a colloquialism frequently associated with black Americans. Neither player who said something along those lines ACTUALLY committed that grammatical error.
Homophobia out, racism in?
Comment by David — February 6, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
WHAT WE’RE FREAKING OUT ABOUT IS THE FACT THAT THEIR REMEDY FOR BEING WEIRDED OUT IS TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF EACH OTHER AND PUNISH THE GAY!!!!
Neither one of them is gay, so how were they punishing “the gay,” unless you mean it like “teh g@y rofl”. Basically what I’m asking, do you mean “the gay” as in “a gay person,” or “the gay” as in “the homosexuality”?
Now that you’ve done considering that, I have a wacky commercial for you: White guy working on a car with his Black Female friend. They accidentally kiss. Then he beats the shit out of her to wash the taste of race Mixing out of his mouth.
Here’s the distinction: people aren’t born racist, but they are born gay. But I take your point. If it was a fat chick and a toned guy and the guy was like “no fatties lol” and punched her in the face, that would be awkward.
Or How about guy kisses girl during snickers. She freaks out. He rapes her to do something manly.
Isn’t kissing a girl manly though? What if she raped him to prove she wasn’t a pushover? What if she stabbed him to death because she thought he committed battery? What if she was transgendered?
There are so many possibilities. Actually, here’s a real one - what if they had a blatantly, stereotypical homosexual and a butch lesbian stereotype in this exact commercial? After they kiss, they start beating each other up?
The two guys in the commercial are morons. If Snickers is portraying two homophobes as idiots, is that a problem?
Comment by ChrisV82 — February 6, 2007 @ 12:17 pm
Wow, it must be tendentious analogy week at the ol’ Talent Show. Look, I know that politics has become especially polarized lately, but there’s no reason this needs to get everyone so upset. I understand the distaste for this commercial to a certain extent, but I don’t think it warrants this much attention. It was just supposed to be silly and irreverant, and we can argue about whether it was effective or not, but ultimately, it’s a product of our culture, not a driving force. If this inspired you to go out and beat up a homosexual, then you’re a homophobic bigot who missed the point of the commercial in the first place. Surprisingly, it did not have this effect on me. (My actual reaction was just to shake my head.)
The very first SB commercial featured a guy throwing a rock at another guy’s head. There’s an undercurrent of violence in our society, but to connect the Snickers commercial to violence against gays is not only inappropriate, but ineffective. What about our priorities? Making every point so strenously means that we’ll be taken less seriously when we have a valid gripe.
The way I look at is this: asking Americans to accept gay marriage as a legal, civil right is reasonable. Asking Americans to be comfortable with two guys kissing is pointless. So what if we win that particular battle? It’ll be like political correctness, which while a good thing in general, only changed the way (some) people talk. It didn’t give a single opportunity to anyone. We still don’t have full equality for the races. If any of this makes me a “concern troll,” so be it.
Finally, what’s with this “concern troll” nonsense? Why do we suddenly have to prove ourselves at all moments? While I agree that it’s annoying to be constantly badgered by the likes of Joe Lieberman, most of the rest of us hold varying views on different subjects. I don’t think all of human opinion can be neatly distilled into “left” vs. “right.”
Having said all this, if gays are truly offended by this, then I’m with you. I’m a straight dude, so I freely admit that my opinion doesn’t count as much. I haven’t asked my gay friends what they think of this, and they probably didn’t watch the SB anyway. (Although at least one of them thinks Peyton is cute.)
Comment by Ben in VA — February 7, 2007 @ 7:56 am
Maybe because Rev. James Dobson is filled with God’s nougat?
Comment by Curtin — February 7, 2007 @ 10:22 am
Yeah, well, if a phrase like “gestapo-gays” is something which actually makes sense to you, then I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that you do lean socially conservative, Jason.
It doesn’t quite have the ring of feminazi, but hey, go for it. Maybe you can make a career out of it.
Comment by TonyRz — February 7, 2007 @ 2:34 pm
In terms of symbolism, the Snickers bar resembles a turd much more than it resembles a phallus. So this commercial really eats sh*t!
If you don’t believe it’s homophobic, check out the football players’ comments. That’s the reaction they were shooting for, believe me.
Comment by birdhaus — February 7, 2007 @ 2:35 pm
Vote for Tim Hardaway as Snicker’s new spokesperson.
Comment by Kamachanda — February 16, 2007 @ 12:01 pm