TVSquad

I'm sorry, but such a knee-jerk reaction by so many groups is completely asinine. It was meant to be funny (it wasn't). It was not meant to be offensive (it wasn't). And it CERTAINLY did not advocate hatred or violence towards homosexuals. If anything, it showed how ignorant and stupid people can be, and now the over-reaction of so many people has proven them right.

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I thought this was a classic! I was astonished then laughing my ass off. They pertrade exactly how insecure straight guys act... ignorant. The pulling chest hair wasn't macho to me but claiming to have the biggest penis or have slepted with over 1000 women would've been better. But I wasn't offended. I thought it was great.

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The ad itself might bave weird but I thought it was rather unfunny. Well, the website attached to the ad that the Mars Corporation encouraged viewers (which I guess is down now), was explicitly violent against gays and lesbians.

There is a better detailed account of the site and its controversy over here:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/02/snickers-superbowl-web-site-promotes.html

[soapbox moment]
I think my big problem with the entire thing is twofold:

1. Taping the football player's reactions to the commercials and replaying them on the website. These are "presumably hetereosexual" men who are acting in disgust on camera, saying things like "That ain't right", and other commentary. These "role models" for America are telling the world they think homosexuality is wrong. As a gay man, I find that offensive, homophobic and wrong.

2. The proposed commercial endings themselves imply homosexuality is wrong and that you have to do violence in order to retain your hetereosexuality. Using humor to hide homophobia while incite violence is always uncool. Those football players, the entire commercial and Mars Corporation are complicit in gay bashing.

I wonder what Matthew Shepard would say, if someone said to him, "Gee, that was just a joke!"

[/soapbox]

Tim

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I thought the ad was stupid, not homophobic. (Though I'm sure some would argue they are synonymous.)

I also agree with the person who wrote here (or maybe it was on another site) that Budweiser's slap commercial was in poor taste.

In fact, all of the commercials were a big let down this year, with one exception: Dave and Oprah.

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All you hardcore gay activists should be happy with this commercial...five years ago seeing something like this on television...during the Superbowl no less, would be unheard of.

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I thought it was mocking macho guys. Shrug. One of the few funny or memorable ads during the game.

First the prince phallus thing - good god, who didn't see that? and who cars? And now this. People need to lighten up. It's just TV.

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I didn't mind the ad that aired too much. The characters were certainly not gay-friendly, but it wasn't outrageous.

However, the stuff on afterthekiss.com - it shouldn't be hard to google to get descriptions. Some of those really were out of line. Especially the one where the two men, so shocked at being caught in a gay moment, decide to beat each other senseless. In a world where straight guys really do beat gay men to death with disturbing frequency, I don't think it's cool at all to reinforce this level of disgust.

Lest you think I overreact, I do know someone who was severely beaten with a mag-light to the head for 'dancing too gay'. He was actually a straight, conservative republican. After spending several weeks in a coma, now he gets to spend the rest of his life with serious brain damage. So, no, I don't think this is the kind of thing we joke about. (Well, there could be jokes about it, just like you can have funny jokes about the KKK - but it's hard and probably a bad idea to begin with.)

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the website attached to the ad that the Mars Corporation encouraged viewers... was explicitly violent against gays and lesbians

Ummm...can we please check our definitions for "explicit" and "implicit"? The website did not "explicitly" advocate anything. Certainly not violence. It you want to claim that it showed homophobic views, that's fine. But let's not blow this out of proportion.


And as for "what Matthew Shepard would say", I think he would say that using him to criticize the content of some SuperBowl commercial trivializes his death.

Homophobia should not be tolerated, but the "digust" shown by two presumably STRAIGHT men kissing is hardly cause for controversy.

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I thought it was mocking homophobia as well.

It wasn't funny anyway. People need to get a life and stop looking to be offended.

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this argument is so gay

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I thought the ad was just silly. The ad, as it aired, seemed more to poke fun at heterosexual "macho" guys, but it certainly didn't convey anything SERIOUS about anyone or anything.

If anything, I was offended at the sympathetic pain reaction I suffered by watching them pull out large tufts of chest hair. Maybe men with hairy chests should form a club and call the local news to say how offended they were, too! :o)

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Have you ever noticed how activists and protestors generally tend to be more radical,violent, narrow minded and/or derogitory, than whatever got them fired up in the first place?

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OH MY GOD.
It's time America took off its diaper and put on some real pants. I'm so sick and tired of everyone getting their feelings hurt. Want hurt? I paid $2 a gallon for gas yesterday when it was $1.89 two days before-that's hurt.
Get over yourselves (you two groups). Will and Grace did WAYYYY more daring content about gays than this stupid, last-a-year-then-disappear commerical could ever do. But NOW you've made a big stink about it and it will never go away. And in the process you've probably pissed off more people than you think you helped.
The ad aired during the SUPERBOWL. I don't really think the Superbowl is all that big in the gay communitiy let alone you worry about this one little ad makes all gays look bad.
And Mars corp - Snickers, grow a pair for God's sake. You let one little whimper come out and you pull the ad, even from the web. Get real.

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I thought the ad was funny. Just plain old fashioned good humor. It seems that people sit and wait for a chance to be offended, or cry foul. I think we've lost the ability to just sit and be entertained. Take off the boxing gloves and let yourself enjoy life a little. It was cute.

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everyone is missing the point...everyone who is "in the know" knows that this is pseudo-outrage...it's not real..it is artificial....manufactured

Faking outrage is a big business in the USA, i am sure that every group that says they are outraged from this commercial, is quietly celebrating. The new fight has begun..sent out the letters asking for money and more involvement and more and more and more money...the masses are ass's

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Shelley - I totally agree with you. I thought this ad was funny. It was mocking the macho-homophobic guy - not homosexuals at all. I was bartending that night & eveyrone at the bar were guys and they were hysterically laughing. Maybe it's cause I live in Metro-Boston and we aren't as hung-up on gay or straight as other states (or states of mind). But I thought that it was hitting the target audience of football - which is primarily male (& their goofy machismo).

I think that it's sad that there has been this kind of reaction to a commercial. This is my only problem with America - we are conserative in advertising (compared to the nudity in commercials in other countries), yet there is porn everywhere you look. It's odd sexual repression in my opinion. Just my opinion. :)

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Oh, here's a surprise. The "usual suspects" (gays, blacks, liberals et al) are once again screeming that they are victims of abuse. When is America going to wake up and declare enough is enough.

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I thought it was great. I never saw the stuff on the website which sounds like it might have been uncalled for, but the commercial itself was hilarious.

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Special news flash, folks... men who aren't attracted to other men probably wouldn't want to kiss each other.

(Then again, men probably wouldn't eat a candy bar out of each other's mouthes, either.)

Sorry, but that's not homophobic. If a gay man accidentally kissed a woman, he would probably react negatively too. Although it's doubtful that he would rip off his chest hair or hit her with a wrench.

JR

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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 thrid 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

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