There were actually a lot of sexually subversive ads in this year’s crop of Super Bowl premiers. My favorite was the one for the car where all the guys stripped off their clothes in order to touch “it.” The Doritos one where the plus sized cashier got to actually be sexually attractive and assertive was also a nice change of pace. Then there was the Snickers ad where the to guys working on a car have a kind of Lady & The Tramp moment with a candy bar, then realized their lips have touched and as a reaction have to do something “manly.” In this case what they did is pull out large swaths of chest hair and howl with pain. Now I saw this and took it as a really funny comment on homophobia.
Now the Human Rights Campaign took umbrage at this in what I thought was a complete show of a lack of humor. I thought this until I saw HRC’s reference to “Three alternate endings to the commercial spot are posted on the Snickers website, one of which includes the two men violently attacking one another – which sends a dangerous message to the public condoning violence against gay Americans. … Two other video clips posted on the Snickers website feature players from the Bears and the Colts watching the ads and responding to the two men kissing.”
Looked for them today and haven’t been able to find those alternate endings any where. Now I’m intrigued. Anyone know where to find them? Bueller?
Collateral Damage 
You gotta love the way this commercial is pissing off both sides of the debate. Not only is the HRC taking issue, but the YouTube discussion on that page is filled with people swearing off Snickers’ bars forever, because their children were corrupted by this ad and will now become card-carrying supporters of the Gay Agenda.
I found it interesting that less fuss was made about the GM “Robot” commercial. We found it appalling while we watched it, especially when the robot jumped off the bridge, but even before that. I mean, who in GM thought that an ad about a robot being fired off the assembly line would be a good call in the midst of record factory closings and employee lay-offs? The suicide bit was just the icing on the cake.
Then again, my sensitivity to the subject may come from living in Michigan, where the effects of GM’s glorious business plan of the past few decardes are felt in every aspect of life.
Actually, the week before it hit the air I wrote a review of the GM ad for brandweek where I said that. Who the hell thought that was a good idea? Last week I was interviewed on the Mitch Ablom show in Detroit and we were both losing our minds over the sheer stupidity of it.
If you want to know more about the Mars family, the people behind Snickers, diabetes, amd childhood obesity in the USA, as well as slave labor in third world countires, you should read this pair of books. I know these people personally, and they’re monsters. These are the books they DON’T want you to see…The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars, by Joël Glenn AND Crisis in Candyland: Melting The Chocolate Shell of the Mars Family Empire by Jan Pottker http://www.epinions.com/content_68791930500
Y’know I’d read good reviews of both these books and then kind of forgotten about them. Thanks for the reminder.