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Snickers in more advertising controversy
Snickers
New Snickers advert is axed following accusations of homophobia from US human rights groups
"This isnââ¬â¢t the first time Snickers and the Masterfoods brand have been in trouble over homophobic advertising"
The offending advert features Mr. T (who is best known for playing BA Baracus in The A Team) pulls up in a truck alongside a man exercising in tight yellow shorts and shouts: ‘Speed walking? I pity you fool. You are a disgrace to the man race. It’s time to run like a real man.’ He then fires Snickers bars at him from a machine gun and the commercial ends with the slogan ‘Get some nuts’.
The advert was the brainchild of the Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO agency, who were also responsible for the infamous Heinz Deli Mayo advert, which was withdrawn last month after receiving 200 complaints.
By comparison, the Advertising Standards Authority received a paltry two complaints in the UK but has seen a strong protest in the U.S., despite never being aired.
The U.S. lobby group Human Rights Campaign criticised Snickers’ makers Mars for condoning "the notion that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community is a group of second class citizens and that violence against GLBT people is not only acceptable but humorous".
A spokesman for Mars said:
"This ad is the second in a series of UK Snickers ads featuring Mr T, which are meant to be fun and have been positively received in the UK.
"However, we understand that humour is highly subjective, and it is never our intention to cause offence. Accordingly, we have pulled the Mr T speedwalker ad globally."
This isn’t the first time Snickers and the Masterfoods brand have been in trouble over homophobic advertising. In February last year during Super Bowl XLI, a Snickers commercial featuring a pair of mechanics who accidentally touch lips while sharing a Snickers bar and upon realising they’ve ‘kissed’ act disgusted and do something overtly manly received complaints from gay rights organisations including Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), whose president Neil Giuliano commented:
"That Snickers, Mars and the NFL would promote and endorse this kind of prejudice is simply inexcusable."
As with the current Snickers advert, Mars claimed that the ad was intended to be humorous but terminated the campaign following the complaints.
