Heinz means homophobia

[eveningair]

From Guardian:

Heinz has withdrawn its Deli Mayo TV ad that featured two men sharing a kiss and apologised to viewers after the advertising regulator received about 200 complaints that it was offensive and inappropriate.
The Heinz Deli Mayo ad has been pulled after less than a week on air after viewers complained to the Advertising Standards

Comments

[anonymous]

I wouldn't say Heinz means homophobia - they made the advert in the first place, and you don't see any other big brands doing that. I'd say that's a big change in the way brands advertise on mainstream TV. I agree they should have thought twice about pulling it, though.

[tropicel]

That was me, by the way, I got logged out.

Etc, etc

[eveningair]

Attention grabbing headlines, is all. The advert wasn't made by Heinze, it was of course commissioned by Heinze and made by an external ad agency- the first advert made for the commission by this particular company. So, a new marketing relationship. And Heinze bottled it.

Free publicity.

Re: Etc, etc

[tropicel]

Oops, I didn't scroll down, I just watched the advert. I understood they would have commissioned it, though, and therefore they would have poured a lot of money into it. You might be right about the new marketing relationship, but Heinz would have approved the concept before it went ahead. And why go with something with the intention of pulling it - possibly generating negative coverage all around? I'm just playing Devil's advocate.

cte ,ctE

[eveningair]

Devil's advocate is great for getting subject B to question their own beliefs, and reinforce what they've espoused in dialogue. I just realised the pun in my sentence 'Heinze bottled it' - completely unintentional.

Ok, I agree with you to an extent. That Heinze approved the ad shows that they are capable of something resembling progressive thought with egalitarian bent. That they pulled it after just 200 complaints reinforces the idea that homosexuality is still a marginalised discourse, and is somehow deviant from a heterosexual norm. You might argue this is a commonly held opinion nearing the truth of the matter- but the more this argument prevails the more weight will be added to the argument that homosexuality and indeed all representations of deviant sexuality (followed, moralistically, by all representations of social deviance) should be accompanied by a disclaimer, an 18 certificate, or simply broadcast after the watershed. I'd prefer to live in a world without such normalising rationales.

[beyceyar]

200 people = 0.0003% of the population.

I bet I could find 200 people to complain about anything.

What if we'd only sent openly gay soldiers to Iraq! Result: "Please stop the war, I'm very embarrassed when my son/daughter asks questions about it."

Idealism

[eveningair]

If only the anti-war coalition was as culture-savvy as you, beyceyar, instead of ranting on with all that 'war crimes, 1st year student-esq 'Bliar' puns, and walking round with orange jump suits n chains on. Nah, what they ought to have done is realise that everybody would rather a world without gays. And if we had a gay army, well that'd be the end of that.