Monday, February 05, 2007
(Weekly Column) The super bomb of the Super Bowl was the blatantly homophobic
Snickers ad that aired in the first quarter of the game. It began with two homely male mechanics fixing a car while under the hood. One plucks a Snickers out of his pocket and starts to devour it, while his friend longingly watches. Unable to constrain himself, the friend chomps on the other side of the bar until the two meet in the middle of the candy bar and inadvertently kiss.
One of the revolted mechanics acknowledges that a same-sex smooch has occurred, which touches off a histrionic horrorfest. To prevent permanent sissification, the newly feminized men seek an antidote to the pansy poison.
"Quick, do something manly," exclaims one of the buffoons. Without hesitation, they undo their shirts and rip a large patch of hair off their chests, while screaming in proper repentance for their sins.
This retrograde 30-second clip shows that Mars, Inc. executives are living on another planet and that there are more nuts in their boardroom than in the actual candy bar. The vile ad was a low blow that went for a cheap laugh at the expense of a minority. The candy company should immediately apologize or at least pull the offending ad before it infects more minds with mindless stereotypes.
How in God's name did the suits at Mars find this crass garbage suitable for public consumption? In front of millions of people, including vulnerable gay youth, the company sent the divisive message that gay people are unmanly. It takes a lot to offend me and I realize laughter helps break down barriers and can lead to real dialogue. The problem here is that people were laughing at us, not with us. In terms of raw obscenity, this was a Janet Jackson moment for the GLBT Community that should provoke shock and outrage. It is not 1978, this is 2007, and such potty-humored portrayals of our love are totally, in football speak, out of bounds. (To see a comprehensive history of gay ads, visit
www.CommericalCloset.com)
Last week, Sen. Joseph Biden subverted his long shot presidential bid when he clumsily referred to Sen. Barack Obama as "clean" and "articulate." On Sunday,
an article in The New York Times discussed how African Americans are rightfully annoyed when white people act surprised when they are eloquent speakers and refer to them as "articulate."
"How many flukes simply constitute reality?" asked Reginald Hudlin, president of entertainment for Black Entertainment Television.
As a gay man who was formerly a second-team all-city basketball player, I am equally annoyed at blanket portrayals of homosexuality as unmanly. We have seen so many brave gay service members die in America's wars. We have witnessed examples of tough professional athletes, such as baseball player Billy Bean or NFL lineman Esera Tuaolo. We have honored heroes like Mark Bingham, who helped keep terrorists from slamming hijacked Flight 93 into the nation's capital. To paraphrase Hudlin, how many flukes will it take before GLBT people are recognized for their extreme bravery and, yes, manliness.
Even braver, of course, are effeminate gay men, masculine lesbians and transgender Americans who have the courage to step each day into a hostile world created by such ads. The problem is, the typecasts portrayed by our culture have made life very difficult for those who do not fit into societal "norms."
Indeed, people have gone through great extremes to fit in. The ex-gay ministries are the most potent and cartoonish example of conforming to stifling expectations. For example, a news reporter recently told me about his trip to ex-gay therapist
Richard Cohen's office. He asked one of Cohen's clients if he had made the transition from gay to straight. To prove his nascent masculinity, the client shoved the straight reporter, who was stunned. Without missing a beat, the man ran into Cohen's arms and excitedly asked if he had passed the test, with the therapist assuring him that progress had been made.
Finally, aren't straight men tired of having their masculinity tied to moronic behavior? Do they really want to be seen as brawny, brainless, backwoods bumpkins? The message sent by companies who make degrading ads, like Mars, Inc., is that to be tough, one has to be a troglodyte. In one broad brushstroke, Mars, Inc., managed to insult gay people for not being macho, while painting masculinity as a quite undesirable trait.
Mars should go back to producing cavities in teeth, rather than ads that produce brain rot that dehumanizes GLBT people and portrays straight men as a step below chimpanzees. If Snickers really satisfies, as their ads claim, they will take this disgraceful dung off the air and discard it like a used candy wrapper.
To Complain to MARS, Inc., please Contact:
contact@policies.mars.com
800-627-7852
31 Comments:
Hello;
While I Apprecite your concern with homophobic messages and I think they shouldn't be tolerated, I see it more as a way to ridicule homophobes than a homophobic act itself... maybe it was just me, but, my idea of homophobia is to actually ridicule GAY people... and the add was intended to ridicule Straig-narrow minded dudes...
posted by , at
2/05/2007 4:50 PM
As one gay man to another, I find your comments a bit much. I was in a gay sports bar packed full of fellow homos. When that commercial came on, the place roared with laughter and then, at the very end of the commercial, applause.
No one I've spoken to about it was offended. I thought it was hilarious.
posted by Richard Bourbon, at
2/05/2007 5:21 PM
There is no question this campaign is based on the idea that two men kissing is supposed to be funny and gross.
Please sign our petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/457885009
posted by Mark D. Snyder, at
2/05/2007 5:53 PM
Taken on its own, the commercial COULD be viewed as parody or satire. However, Mars went furhter by posting the reactions of "manly" football players on their website, all of whom reacted with digust. This action takes away any semblance of parody and reflects what the base intent of the ad was: to use gay panic, homophobia, and even violence against gay men as comedic fodder. Also, given the fact that this was aired during the Super Bowl (a traditionally "manly" experience) and that the owners of Mars Inc are devoted and generous Republicans, a lot of evidence points to the fact that this ad was NOT intended as parody at all but instead used to tap into a rather antiquated version of humor derived from cheap, lazy, simplistic stereotypes.
--Johnny in Minneapolis
posted by , at
2/05/2007 5:56 PM
Nah. Get over it. It was probably set before a focus group of gay men to start. And those guys were oofish. Being too sensitive is going to start a backlash.
posted by , at
2/05/2007 8:50 PM
Thanks Mark D. Snyder for the link to the petition.
I signed it and forwarded on to my email list.
posted by , at
2/05/2007 9:49 PM
I did not think much of it--I think it was funny, but then I saw the website. The football players saying problematic comments and the other ads, which were more extreme, made me evaluate the ad differently. Some of the alternative ads involved violence with a wrench and drinking antifreeze. I thought it was just an ad, but the rest was offensive
posted by , at
2/06/2007 3:15 AM
Exactly. Kissing another man must either lead to suicide or life threatening violence or your manhood is completely destroyed.
So I wonder how much Mars paid the NFL players to sit there and offer their responses to "the kiss?" And what was the company reason for that ridiculous display - are we really supposed to buy a candy bar because a football player grimaces when he sees two men kiss?
posted by , at
2/06/2007 11:37 AM
This idea--that the natural, normal reaction of a "man" to anything "gay" is to recoil in disgust and fear, to engage in compensatory self-destruction, and (in the web site version) to lash out in violence--is exactly the problem from which so many other problems stem for us.
What's funny about homophobia? What's funny about homophobes? What's funny about one guy whacking another in the stomach with a monkey wrench because he can't handle the fact that his lips touched another man's?
Some commenters here have screws loose.
posted by Sportin' Life, at
2/06/2007 11:59 AM
It clearly is homophobic. The entire message is that kissing another guy makes you "unmanly" and that homosexuality warrants panick and acting like a complete moron.
Then again, that does describe most straight guys, doesn't it? The commercial is offensive, but is it really that surprising to anyone? Homophobia is completely and utterly ingrained in our culture, and most straight guys are indeed brought up to be more afraid of things that can't hurt them than things that actually can; to equate masculinity with acting like a drunken ape; and to react irrationally and violently anytime their sexual orientation is even slightly called into question.
With the exception of a few incredibly thoughtful straight guys who have been forced to think about LGBT issues for some reason or another (usually because a friend or family member came out to them), this is the way almost every other straight guy I've ever met has behaved.
Straight men are stupid, homophobic pigs. So what else is new?
posted by Ryan, at
2/06/2007 1:58 PM
Obviously they were not marketing to gay men. And get over it - that's how many men react to gay men whether to your face or not.
posted by , at
2/06/2007 3:22 PM
FYI, it's www.CommericalCloset.org, not .com.
posted by , at
2/06/2007 3:40 PM
The ad uses gay men as a source of ridicule. It is not only homophobic, but heterophobic, too, as Wayne rightly points out. Are straight American men really a bunch of illiterate, fat-bellied buffoons? This commercial reminds me of those food company commercials that we've been seeing as of late. "EAT LIKE A MAN!" they say.
Some in modern American society seems to think that being a "man" means getting fat, clogging your arteries, using profanity, grunting on a daily basis and, don't forget, hooting and hollering at pretty women. Being a man is a very rewarding experience, and those that behave in such a way have no idea of its true power. Pity.
posted by , at
2/06/2007 3:48 PM
You guys actually watched the Super Bowl?
Blech!
posted by , at
2/06/2007 9:46 PM
The furor over this kind of bugs me, particularly the calls for boycotts, et al. The hypersensitive victim mentality adopted by a lot of minorities is nothing more than the knee-jerk reaction of the undiscerning. Something can be silly and ignorant (or in this case, pathetically anachronistic) without being an attack, and minorities *always* need to pick their battles. You will never find something in the mainstream media that doesn't offend someone somewhere. I truly believe that when you create an atmosphere where everyone is so afraid of saying something offensive, you stifle honest discourse which would actully further a group's cause. Honest discourse involves people presenting conflicting views and seeking common ground, not simply dining on the dictated pabulum. Save your righteous wings for higher things.
posted by Michael St. John, at
2/06/2007 9:47 PM
The commercial has generated enough talk and heat to be successful at what it was designed to do--Make people remember Snickers. However, given the commentary that Mars latched on, which was totally homophobic and given the Mars Family history of big support for right-wing causes, I have to think there is something more sinister there than just a source of innocent merriment.
posted by Polonius, at
2/07/2007 1:31 PM
Humor, like liquor, helps bigoted prejudices go down the hatch. What bothers me is that something with a manifestly hostile slant on gays gets a pass because it uses humor to sugar over its ugly (and ineluctable) implications.
I agree that you have to pick your battles carefully, but if a implicitly anti-gay television ad run on network TV's highest rated show of the year isn't one of them; what is?
posted by , at
2/07/2007 2:31 PM
"Ahhh, but any indiscretion you may have is quickly swept under the rug. So while the gay community is allowed to "spin" their violent threats against others, everyone else is held to a higher standard."
Hi.
Get a life.
posted by Ryan, at
2/08/2007 1:11 AM
Lighten up.
There was NOTHING wrong with the Mars ad.
posted by , at
2/08/2007 4:14 AM
I also found that ad unbelievably offensive because, to put it simply, it modeled homophobia. The related materials on the Mars/Snickers website -- since removed -- showed in no uncertain terms how it clearly resonated on a homophobic wavelength. Thanks for posting about it, Wayne. I disagree completely that this is a minor matter: How many millions of people saw that ad? This needs to have long-term repercussions for Mars, and be a cautionary tale for other would-be gay-bashers-for-money.
posted by , at
2/08/2007 2:38 PM
PS: To Polonius: I tend to agree with you. Nobody is going to buy a Super Bowl ad and not plan things out very carefully. The "All publicity is good publicity" concept may apply. Suddenly the name of their tooth-decaying, obesity-promoting, organ-harming candy bar (which I'm intentionally not going to mention again) is all over the place. That's why a very long-term and broad-based boycott (including retailers choosing not to stock Mars Co./Masterfoods products), as well as other creative countering, is necessary. As far as creative countering, just like water to the Wicked Witch of the West, sales of the Mars Co.'s product shrivels in utter helplessness at reminders on what this product does to one's health. The product could perhaps be used for a short burst of energy -- followed by a crash (and quite possibly setting up an addictive cycle) -- but other products (e.g., Clif bars) are much better designed for that purpose. I mean, just look at the ingredients for those things. The company is VERY vulnerable there. And they are hugely vulnerable relative to dental health. The product is not just super-sugary, it's super-sticky. I believe the product also contains, as a listed ingredient, lactose (milk sugar), which millions of people cannot tolerate. I don't have the product in front of me (and won't be purchasing one), but there are probably plenty of frankenfood chemicals in there as well. Just getting more people to read the label on that product would be very helpful. Or the put the ingredients list on various blogs to remind people that that sh*t is NOT good for you. And if you crave candy, you can enjoy candy created by other people -- people who don't create homophobia-modeling ads for the Super Bowl.
posted by , at
2/08/2007 3:03 PM
You know, I think this is really going to backfire on the gay community. People are getting a bit tired that nothing is okay anymore - and guess what, we all make fun of eachother. Even my gay nieghbors are a little embarrassed by the actions of the gay organisations that called for removal of the ad. This is not good, not good at all.
posted by , at
2/09/2007 11:28 AM
The question of whether or not a battle should be fought over this ad is a good one. And obviously many are asking that. But this does not change Mr. Besen's point that this was indeed a use of people's prejudices to grab attention and sell a product.
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