Thursday, February 8, 2007

Snickers and the Super Bowl

I don't know how many of you watched the Super Bowl or saw the Snickers ad that has become so controversial. I saw the ad and at the time thought it was kind of silly. I did not realize that they had alternate endings on their web site that people could vote on. The winning ending would then be played during the Daytona 500. The original ad had two mechanics inadvertently kiss while eating the same candy bar and then pulling out chest hair to prove how manly they were. A stupid and silly premise for a commercial if you ask me. The problem that arises from this is the alternate endings that were up for vote on their web site. One was actually promoting a "gay bashing" mentality. They also showed reactions from some of the football players being grossed out by what appeared to be two men kissing. After protests, they removed the ad from television and all related things from their website. This is a good thing, but falls short because they will not apologize for it. When I sent a protest email, I received a standard "we were appealing to our core consumer, who loved the ad". I responded back, that I guess that even though I purchase their products, they must not consider me a core consumer. Personally, I will have no problem not buying Snickers or any other Mars products in the future. This just gives me another reason to watch what I eat, while I silently protest.

5 comments:

Rachel Rubin said...

I agree, it was kind of silly. I'm surprised so many people still back a big deal out of those things in our country.

Gina said...

I agree! What jerks...I love to boycott bad companies and will write an email and join your protest.

Gina

Rachel Rubin said...

By the way, Tag! You're it . . .

Anonymous said...

I know I am in the blogging community I am in the minority, but I just didn't see the big deal with the commerical... if anything, they were making the guys look ridiculous for acting like it was a big deal... if anything it was an anti-homophobic ad mocking straight men.

cookinginkc said...

The problem with the ad was not what you saw on tv. It was the additional material that they had on the web site that was offensive.