Snickers pulls plug on Super Bowl ad
Gay rights groups complained content was homophobic
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. — A commercial for Snickers candy bars launched during the Super Bowl broadcast Sunday was pulled after its maker got 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, Masterfoods USA, a division of Mars Inc.
The Snickers Web site also showed video of players from the Super Bowl teams reacting to the kiss.
“This type of jeering from professional sports figures at the sight of two men kissing fuels the kind of anti-gay bullying that haunts countless gay and lesbian schoolchildren on playgrounds all across the country,” Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said in a statement.
Masterfoods spokeswoman Alice Nathanson said the company would stop running the ad on television and the Web site.
“We know that humor is highly subjective and understand that some people may have found the ad offensive. Clearly that was not our intent,” she wrote.