Funny Bits

A new Snickers ad is getting a lot of play on the web and not for all the right reasons. The ad -- featuring Mr T firing a Snickers-Gun at a speedmincer  --  is blatantly homophobic according to some.

Advertising Age's Bob Garfield wrote an open letter condemning Omnicom Group (and its president John Wren) for creating the ad. "Stop the dehumanizing stereotypes. Stop the jokey violence. There is no place in advertising for cruelty. Pull the campaign. Do it now."

Last year Omnicrom's TBWA, New York, created another ad for Snickers where two auto mechanics accidentally kiss. Disgusted they prove their manliness by ripping off a strip of chest hair (is that what straight men do?). However, an alternate ending had one guy attacking the other with a wrench. Now that's not nice.

The Sword argues people are over-reacting: "Can't we get over ourselves? First of all: It's an ad for a candy bar.  Second: Speedwalking has always been super queer.  And yes, in this instance, we mean 'queer' in a bad way ... Cleanse every instance of mild cruelty out of every TV show, movie, and candy bar ad and we'll be left with a lot of episodes of "7th Heaven" and a bunch of mild, humorless hippies lying around hugging each other."

Check out the video after the jump and let us know what you think.

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