Gays Don't Like to See Men Kissing on TV

Hey, neither do I, but I won't stop eating Snickers because of it. The Super Bowl always has a number of edgy ads, and most are pretty funny. One ad, for Snickers, featured a couple of mechanics who ended up in a compromising position. Gay rights groups are not pleased:

A commercial for Snickers candy bars launched in the Super Bowl broadcast was benched after its maker got complaints that it was homophobic.

The ad showed two auto mechanics accidentally kissing while eating the same candy bar and then ripping out some chest hair to do something "manly." One of the alternate endings on the Snickers Web site showed the men attacking each other.

The Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation complained to the maker of Snickers, Hackettstown-based Masterfoods USA, a division of Mars Inc., which also makes M&M's and other candies.

The Web site also featured video of players from the Super Bowl teams reacting to the kiss.

"This type of jeering from professional sports figures at the sight of two men kissing fuels the kind of anti-gay bullying that haunts countless gay and lesbian school children on playgrounds all across the country," Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said in a statement.

GLAAD spokesman Marc McCarthy said Tuesday the group believed "this kind of prejudice was inexcusable."

Masterfoods spokeswoman Alice Nathanson issued a statement in which she said the company would stop running the ad on television and the Web site.

Pretty wimpy response from Mars. Just because someone perceives an ad in a way that fits their prejudices doesn't mean it was meant that way or that the company owes them an apology.