rotten bananas

Snickers aired an ad during the Superbowl in which two guys accidentally kiss and then rip out a handful of chest hair in a manly response. It made me laugh when I saw it, and I thought it was clever. At no point during or after the commercial did I think, “Yea, they’re right. Homosexuals are wretched people!” or, “Wow! That totally reminded me that I wanted to beat the snot out of some gays!”

Well, apparently GLAAD (and a few other groups) think that some people will respond that way.

I’m one of those ‘crazy liberals’ that has the absurd notion that being gay doesn’t make you evil. And gay people should possibly even have the same rights as straight people (See: The Real Threat to Marriage). I in no way support gay bashing, but this is a little bit ridiculous. This commercial was funny. The guys looked and acted ridiculous, and if nothing else, I think the commercial was making fun of silly homophobes rather than encouraging hatred and discontent towards homosexuality.

Either way, I can’t see a stupid Snickers commercial leading to anti-gay rioting and acts of violence. If you want people to take your position seriously, you have to choose your battles wisely. You can’t go after every single thing and expect people to respect where you’re coming from. This reeks of the recent fiasco between the pork industry and a clever mother. In the end, the company realized they had made a mistake, and they corrected it. Unfortunately, people pay more attention to the wrong than the right in many cases. I think it’s obvious that I’m a supporter of GLAAD’s goals of equality, but I have lost a little respect for the people making PR decisions for their organization.