Manwich mocks "Men who like Musicals."
The homophobic alarm on copyranter's custom-built blogging desk (which is half-covered with various ad alarms—a sexism one, an ageism one, etc.) is flickering. Maybe I'm just being a too-sensitive NYC metrosexual here, but casting a shirtless bear kinda adds fuel to the gay-bashing Manwich flame. I do like the :15 execution of the campaign (see the other two spots here), but the copy needed to be pushed more. Ad agency: Leo Burnett, Toronto.
Previous more egregiously homophobic ads: one, two.
posted by copyranter @ 8:40 AM
6 Comments:
Why do you feel they're homophobic?
Are you homophobic?
There doesn't seem to be any reference to gay men anywhere. Maybe I'm reading too much in to this, but maybe it's just funny and not prejudice.
relax. laugh. eat a sloppy joe.
One of the most influential gay bloggers thought it was homophobic:
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/04/homophobia-from-manwich.html
Take up your argument with him.
I already did.
So do YOU feel they're homophobic?
Or are you backing him up because you feel like you should?
Just because someone has signed up for a free blog and is gay, it doesn't mean they're the voice of the gay community.
It's unfortunate that a few complaints have killed this campaign. I was hoping to see more in the future.
I think they're really funny and I'm a straight man who's not a homophobe. Maybe I should start a blog about that. I am an expert.
I wrote the alarm was flickering, not fully on.
And, no, Joe's not the "voice" of the gay community, but his blog is pretty widely read by said community.
As I wrote, I liked the execution, but the /scenarios/copy could've been much better. But then, as I know from experience, that may be the client's fault.
wow...ok, you have a blog to run, so I will walk anon through the ad. And apparently slowly. Cause I guess unless an ad screams "I hate teh gayz", they'll miss it. *sigh*
1) Stereotype that all gay men like musicals.
2) man in ad talks about musical he likes.
3) man in ad has sandwhich slapped into his face.
4) voiceover in ad sneeringly says "it's called a MANwhich."
5) Emphasis is put on the word MAN.
6) Ad equation men who like musicals cannot be men.
7) Subtext= since most Americans believe all gay men like musicals (hey that's what we see on TV and movies, right?) gay men are not men.
No, it doesn't scream "I hatez teh gayz", but it does continue America's homophobic tradition of seeing gay men as not male.
Watch Anon come back and say I'm reading too much into the ad, that's not what they meant, I'm being too sensitive or something of that nature. *grin*
As someone who IS a gay man: Yes, it's homophobic. The message is: acting a certain way makes you a man. Acting a different way gets you punched in the face.
You might not read into that - but you've probably never been punched in the face for being different. I have.
Its the same type of broad-brush that racists use: they don't act like us, therefore they are less than us.
This is a stupid and dangerous message to send to anyone. I know lots of men, and the only constant they share is a penis.
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