Homophobic chocolate
The news:
Snickers, a brand owned by Mars produced a global TV ad, which interestingly, only created a scandal in the United States. The Human Rights Campaign, an American gay rights group, judged it homophobic and the campaign was pulled – not just in the US but globally. Despite the fact that the ASA in the UK hardly received any complaints, and UK consumers found the ad amusing Mars still pulled the plug here. The spot features the A Team’s much-loved Mr. T in a 4×4 firing Snickers at a speed walker after launching the tirade, “You’re a disgrace to the man race. It’s time to teach you to run like a real man.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bUxi_Eo6fU
Behind the news:
This example is quite extreme, I don’t think anyone could have really predicted that there would be any real controversy associated with this ad. And in reality there really wasn’t – there were scarcely any complaints in the UK, yet the ad was stopped. The interesting learning here is that political pressure groups in the US can significantly impact media abroad!
© Textappeal 2009