Tuesday, June 24, 2008

No homosex, please, we're British

Just a few days ago, I read (at Joe.My.God.) about an ad being run by Heinz in the UK that featured a kiss between two men. It's a very chaste kiss, and technically, it's a kiss between a husband and wife. Watch the ad and you'll see what I mean.


Very cute, n'est-ce pas? And well done*, too. They even got the New York accent accurately, which is apparently not easy ("Daleks in Manhattan," anyone?).

Today I found out (via Joe, again) that the ad is being pulled because of the huge number of complaints Heinz has received from people who are upset that it features ZOMG! BOYSEXXORZZ!!!1!!!ELEVENTY-ONE!!1!111, which has forced them to explain the wonders of same-sex attraction to the innocent little kiddos. Silly me, I thought the person in the white hat was meant to be a (presumably) British woman who just makes sandwiches as well as a New York deli counter man, not someone who actually is one. I'm always getting stuff wrong, aren't I?

I'm disappointed in Heinz knuckling under so easily, and in the ignorance of the letter-writers , too. The Brits are supposed to be more openminded about this sort of thing, amirite? After all, as Archie Bunker told us "England is a fag country... the whole society is based on a kind of a fagdom"?

*I do have one quibble with the ad. I'm from New York, and I like mayonnaise on my sandwiches, but I certainly would not call it a "New York deli" thing, nor put it on a lot of typical delicatessen sandwiches. You order a pastrami or corned beef with mayo in a NYC deli, and see the response you get. Go on, I dare you.