So Heinz have decided to pull their new tv ad after the Advertising Authority received over 200 complaints. The advert which wasn't being broadcast during children's programming, shows two children taking their packed lunch from a man in a chef's uniform in their kitchen. They call him 'mum' and the ad ends with the 'dad' rushing out the door before being called back into the kitchen to (quickly) kiss the 'mum' character.
Before the ASA could investigate the complaints, Heinz pulled the ad and apolgisesd for confronting and offending viewers with images that surely everyone who watches tv after 6pm is comfortable with. This is the ad, produced by the very talented people at AMV BBDO.
Now seriously, how offensive is this? I know that there are concerns that it might force parents to have to get into the tricky area of explaining same-sex relationships to their children but is that any harder than it is to explain whats going on in Eastenders (murder, violence, sex, Barbara Windsor!) or Grand Theft Auto (very bad things, I believe) or, God forbid, the News.
This is an advert for FCUK that was broadcast about eighteen months ago. It features 2 very attractive girls beating the bejasus out of each other and ends with the them kissing each other. There were a hundred complaints about this ad but the ASA didn't uphold any of them. Is it more likely that they'd have upheld these complaint against Heinz?
Of course, now they don't have to because Heinz have pulled the ad. Which is mind-blowing really. I mean, how many people were involved in creating it? How many ideas were chucked out before they settled on this one? How much money did it cost? How many meetings in boardrooms were held to discuss the ad? Did it really not occur to anyone that it might cause a little stir? It must have. And yet at the first sign of trouble they've taken it off the tv..
Of course the one thing that nobody is talking about is the issue that the advert isn't offensive, it's just plain bad.. Why is he a NY deli chef? Are they suggesting that Heinz is somehow identifiable with New York? It isn't, is it? No, the advert isn't offensive - it's just rubbish.
Now I read this evening that Stonewall and other gay organistions have, inevitably, called for a boycott on Heinz products. Once all this kicked off at the weekend and Heinz started planning damage limitation, somebody in PR really should have read all the way down to the end of the page. The reaction of Stonewall is as predictable as the reaction of concerned parents and outraged homophobes last week. It'll be interesting to see how they try to get out of this one..
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3 comments:
The thing about that Heinz ad is that I'm really surprised at Stonewall's reaction - it's not exactly a bad or negative representation of gayfolk is it? Doesn't show them in a bad light at all. Why are they offended?
This is my take. I actually think that it was never intended that they are a gay couple. I think They've tried to take the standard-issue family format, and cleverly substitute the 'mum' character with a chef - they're saying that having Heinz deli mayos in the house is like having a chef in your own house, ie a chef for a mum.
They've basically cocked up the execution and people have got the wrong end of the stick completely. You can hear the creatives now:
"Wouldn't it be great, yeah, right, to have a family, but... wait, no, wait, right, the 'mum' is actually a deli chef. It's kind of dropping an incongruous character into a really, like, well-known stereotypical situation - like, the 2.4 children thing, yah? It kind of monkeys around with people's paradontle atrium. Yah. Jeesh, I'm beat, it's Friday, let's just f*ck off to the pub, yah.'
Dig?
S
PS It would have been better if it was all live action as it is, but the chef was a CG character, it would have been funnier, but I think Ragu did that.
Yeah - but the kiss makes it a bit more attention-seeking than just having a chef in the kitchen, doesn't it?
You're right though - it would be a lot better if they just left it alone and didn't try to being in the gay angle.. I guess Stonewall's reaction is because Heinz pulled an ad because people weren't comfortable with the gay thing. Which obviously means that Heinz don't like gay people. Despite Heinz trying to portray a gay family unit as perfectly normal..
You just can't win, can you?!
Wow - did you ever get that spooky deja vu feeling?!
It's not near as bad as that ad a few years back with undertones of swinging - leading us to believe couples wandering around in the nip, her first time and all that. Think it was for some juice drink in the end. Shocking stuff altogether.
That's all a joke by the way.
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