A commercial for
Snickers candy bars that debuted during the Super Bowl
broadcast Sunday was benched after its maker received
complaints that it was homophobic. The ad showed two
auto mechanics accidentally kissing while eating the
same candy bar and then ripping out some chest hair to
do something ''manly.'' One of the alternate endings on the
Snickers Web site showed the men attacking each other.
The Human Rights
Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation complained to the maker of Snickers,
Hackettstown, N.J.-based Masterfoods USA, a
division of Mars Inc., which also makes M&M's and
other candies.
The Web site also
featured video of players from the Super Bowl teams
reacting badly to the kiss. ''This type of jeering from
professional sports figures at the sight of two men
kissing fuels the kind of antigay bullying that haunts
countless gay and lesbian schoolchildren on
playgrounds all across the country,'' HRC president Joe
Solmonese said in a statement.
GLAAD spokesman
Marc McCarthy said Tuesday the group believed ''this kind
of prejudice was inexcusable.''
Masterfoods
spokeswoman Alice Nathanson issued a statement in which she
said the company would stop running the ad on television and
the Web site. ''As with all of our Snickers
advertising, our goal was to capture the attention of
our core Snickers consumer,'' Nathanson wrote.
''Feedback from our target consumers has been positive. In
addition, many media and Web site commentators of this
year's Super Bowl commercial lineup ranked the
commercial among this year's top 10 best. USA Today
ranked it [number] nine of its top 10 picks.... We
know that humor is highly subjective and understand that
some people may have found the ad offensive. Clearly that
was not our intent."
Masterfoods
brands include Uncle Ben's rice, Pedigree dog food, and
Whiskas cat food. It is part of Mars Inc., a family-owned
company. (AP)
