02/07/2007
Quick Bites on Snickers and Ted Haggard
We hear that Ted Haggard is rather upset they pulled the Snickers commercial: "I really enjoyed doing the Snickers commercial. There is a sense of camaraderie, I suppose, that develops between actors in that kind of situation. There were a lot of takes, and a lot of candy bars in order to get the scene just right. It's a scientific fact that chocolate has chemical compounds that are similar to methamphetamine and stimulate sexual feelings, so it was a little tough on me. I'm just really disappointed with the American public that there is such intolerance for heterosexual feelings."
Meanwhile, in actual news, gay escort Mike Jones reacted to Haggard's announcement that he's "completely heterosexual" on MSNBC yesterday. Said Jones: "That's the quickest therapy I've ever heard of. Y'know, it's hard for me to imagine someone who is performing oral sex and saying that he's straight. That just doesn't jive."
And blogger Manhattan Offender recently did an interview with NYC nightlife promoter Daniel Nardicio. Nardicio tips him off to a podcast he did with Mike Jones, in which he goes into "the homophobe minister's drug use, sexual positions, and, um, cleanliness."
As a follow-up to...
Masterfoods Pulls Offensive Snickers Ads and Website [tr]
Snickers: "Quick, Do Something Manly [tr]
Ted Haggard: Now "Completely Heterosexual" [tr]
Posted 10:45 AM EST by Andy Towle in Advertising, Football (American), Mike Jones, News, Sports, Ted Haggard | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Hey!! Why is Sam Kinnison trying to fish a piece of poop out of gay guy's mouth?? Ewww!!!
Posted by: Todd | Feb 7, 2007 11:07:06 AM
OK. That's even more disturbing than the original...yet funny.
Posted by: tommy | Feb 7, 2007 11:31:23 AM
For anyone interested in the podcast, here is a direct link: http://www.eastvillageradio.com/auto-archives/81/EVR-81-DLISTRADIO-02-03-07.mp3.m3u
(Hopefully that works.)
The interview with Mike Jones takes place during the last few minutes of the podcast, so skip ahead past the other garbage if you want.
Brace yourself for a LOT of feedback, some general awkwardness between Jones and the podcasters, and one or two interesting but not entirely salacious tidbits about Ted Haggard. (He's a bottom - who knew!)
Posted by: Anita Woodward | Feb 7, 2007 11:49:02 AM
I'd be offended if this wasn't so laughable. As a gay man who went through all the typical issues of denial in coming to terms with my sexuality, it's sad to think that someone would make such a public statement about his sexuality being re-engineered to fit the needs of his career and religious life. All in three weeks time. Unreal.
Guess it is possible to make someone gay. Will have to get to work on that long list of hetrosexuals I've always had my eye on.
Posted by: Ben | Feb 7, 2007 12:05:14 PM
I wasn't really offended by the commercial in the first place--I thought it was making fun of heterosexual insecurity more than homosexual feelings.
I love the "intolerance for heterosexual feelings" statement. It's just so out there. But, I guess I'm not the expert on heterosexual feelings that Haggard is.
Posted by: Daniel | Feb 7, 2007 1:02:34 PM
I'd be more alarmed by the Snickers ad if I didn't realize that it had to get past scores of queers in the ad agency world. Obviously, they weren't offended enough to quash it.
Posted by: jeff | Feb 7, 2007 3:05:16 PM
At least Haggard was not "cured," since being gay is not a disease. He "got" heterosexuality, just like fundies "get" Jesus (not very well, IMHO). But men who have sex with men, especially those we identify as "bottoms," surprise me with their wives and three kids. Those phallic-oriented may be satisfied in any number of ways, but usually bottoms can be satisfied in only one way, and it requires another man. Human beings can be the most curious of animals, especially in the lies, denials, pretenses, hypocrisies, double standards. Does "getting" Jesus solve these human conditions? I don't think so.
Posted by: The Gay Species | Feb 7, 2007 3:18:59 PM
I received the following non-apology letter in response to my complaint about the videos showing anti-gay football players responding to the commercial:
-----
In response to your email regarding SNICKERS BRAND .
As with all of our SNICKERS Brand advertising, our goal was to capture the attention of our core SNICKERS consumer.
Feedback from our target consumers has been positive. In addition, many media and website commentators of this year's Super Bowl commercial line-up ranked the commercial among this year's top ten best. USA Today ranked it #9 of its top ten pick.
We know that humor is highly subjective and understand that some people may have found the ad offensive. Clearly that was not our intent. Consequently, we do not plan to continue to air the ad on television or on our SNICKERS Brand website.
Please be assured that we appreciate your feedback and value you as a consumer. We will continue to forward your comments on to our Marketing Managers.
Sincerely,
Consumer Care
Masterfoods USA
A Division of Mars, Incorporated
Posted by: sparks | Feb 7, 2007 4:22:14 PM
The point being.... my complaint had been about the response videos, not the actual commercial. Not that I expected anything but a form letter, or even for them to read what I wrote.
Posted by: sparks | Feb 7, 2007 4:24:37 PM
I agree that Master Foods' response was completely unacceptable (I received the same response posted above).
It is a very slippery slope, and an weak defense to suggest that because a group, regardless of their size, liked or were humored by something, that it was acceptable. Hundreds if not thousands of racists would have been thrilled to see people of color beaten, but that does not make it acceptable. Some people would have laughed if you had thrown a puppy in front of a speeding truck, but that still does not make it justified or acceptable.
This response and their press release seek to justify their advertisement because people laughed, and it is supposed to be acceptable that they stopped.
Their further justification of its popularity in USA Today does nothing to address the fact that the campaign promoted hate.
Their complete and effusive apology is the ONLY acceptable response.
Posted by: Frank | Feb 7, 2007 6:45:24 PM
forget the emails of protest to masterfoods. protest with your pockets. boycott their brands. i always knew that there were a bunch of bozo's in the marketing dept. of this company ever since they turned down steven spielberg when he asked them to use M&M's as the candy to entice ET out of the shadows in his blockbuster film. reese's pieces have always been the better candy. kudo's to hershey's.
Posted by: sean | Feb 7, 2007 11:27:04 PM
Posted by: Anita Woodward |
Thanks Anita. I felt a bit sorry for Mike Jones in that interview.
And I love Jack E Jett, but have to note that where there are odd questions followed by scabrous revelations the man is never too far!
Posted by: Da | Feb 8, 2007 2:29:23 AM
So, by "jive," did Mike Jones mean "jibe"?
Posted by: Andrew | Feb 8, 2007 8:43:31 AM