I've been asked to appear on the Jeremy Vine show today at 1.30 ish to discuss the horror of an advert which features two grown men kissing. Apparently some parents are very upset at the idea of their evening being ruined and having to explain to their offspring why two men are showing physical affection.
I watched the ad and am slightly confused by it. A small boy comes into a kitchen, sees a grown man in a deli outfit and calls him 'mum'. So does the small girl who follows. So is the message that Heinz mayo can blur gender boundaries?
It's enough to get the anti-gay lobby in a stew of course. Personally I think you're born gay and that's that. But I intend to sit the Boy in front of a whole season of Derek Jarman movies this weekend, just to see if exposure to such rampant homosexuality turns him gay. Hey, it might mean he tidies his room up occasionally.
4 comments:
I've made a comment on this myself today. The reaction is one of those things that you really just want to roll your eyes at and then get on with your business, but as the reaction of 200 boring idiots becomes news there's a moral compulsion to counter it. Is 'bloke writes letter to Heinz and the ASA in support of inoffensive advert' newsworthy, do you think?
I think those 200 people are the same people who ring up to complain about a nipple they may have glimpsed on Channel 4, or too much swearing on CBeebies. In fact, I think they all live in the same house and write the same letters of complaint. The ones that begin with: "I'm No Prude but . . "
I think the "story" of the advert is that using the Heinz mayo will turn your sandwich making family member of choice into a New York deli chef.
Clearly the "outrage" is ridiculous. No doubt most of the 200 complaints were a standard letter printed out from mediawatch or another similar Mary Whitehouse organisation. One thing about it is that it's great publicity for Heinz!
A small cynical part of me wondered if they withdrew the ad deliberately. What with the online petition and the Fuss, as you say they're getting loads of publicity.
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