“An Ad For Ice Cream Of Gay Conversion Therapy?” Snickers Forced To Pull Offensive Homophobic Ad – B&T
Snickers in Spain has been forced to pull its latest TV campaign following intense criticism that it was homophobic.
The 20-second spot, that aired on prime time TV, shows Spanish social media star Aless Gibaja – who is openly gay – flamboyantly order an orange juice at a beachside bar and wink and blow a kiss at the waiter as an embarrassed friend looks on.
The waiter hands him a Snickers ice cream bar and after taking a bite, Gibaja turns into a bearded, gruff-looking man.
“Better?” his friend asks. “Better,” he responds as the chocolate bar’s famous tagline appears: “You’re not you when you’re hungry”.
Check out the offending spot below:
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Unsurprisingly, the ad has caused a huge uproar in Spain with one critic saying he wasn’t sure if the chocolate bar maker was “advertising ice cream or [gay] conversion therapy”.
Spain’s minister for equality, Irene Montero, also tweeted: “I wonder who would think it is a good idea to use homophobia as a business strategy.
“Our society is diverse and tolerant. Hopefully those who have the power to decide what we see and hear in advertisements and TV programmes will learn to be as well,” Montero said.
An LGBTQ+ rights group branded the ad “shameful” and added that it was “unfortunate that there are companies that continue to perpetuate stereotypes and promote homophobia”.
Others questioned why Gibaja – who boasts 700,000 followers in Instagram – would’ve agreed to appear in the ad in the first place.
One non-fan tweeting: “It is humiliation for money and the problem is that they are not only humiliating him and making fun of him, but that they are sending that message out and it affects everyone.”
Gibaja has not yet publicly commented on the outrage.
For its part, Mars Wrigley – owner of the Snickers brand – has pulled the ad and offered an apology.
A spokersperson for the brand saying: “In this particular campaign we wanted to convey in a friendly and light-hearted way that hunger can change your character.
“At no time was it intended to stigmatise or offend any person or collective.
“We would like to wholeheartedly apologise for any harm caused by a recent advert for Snickers Ice Cream in Spain.
“We recognise that we got it wrong and have removed the online content immediately.
“We take equal rights and inclusion seriously, we want a world where everybody is free to be themselves and we believe that as an employer and advertiser we have a role and a responsibility to play our part in creating that world.
“We will take the opportunity to listen and learn from this mistake and do better in the future,” the spokersperson said.
In 2008, a Snickers advert that featured the A-Team‘s Mr T calling a speed walker a “disgrace to the man race” was pulled after accusations it was offensive to gay people.