salty nuts
Maybe somebody can help me understand this. Snickers just recently pulled an ad because certain gay rights groups have come out and vocalized their displeasure with the advertisement. Watch it below, then continue reading.
Here is what I think is key to note; at no point are we ever explicitly told this guy is gay. What I think is interesting is that if you really think about it, gay rights groups are actually making all the assumptions, and invoking all the negative stereotypes of gay men, that they’ve been trying to dispel for all this time. Think about it, Mr. T is essentially calling the speed walker effeminate, right? Ok, but hasn’t part (a large part, I thought) of the gay rights movement been to dispel the stereotypes that gay men are characterized by effeminate behavior? I always believed that being gay was simply an issue of sexual orientation; it didn’t mean that you necessarily acted a certain way, dressed a certain way, or spoke a certain way. They simply prefer same sex partners, but for all other facets of life, they are just like you and me. So, it strikes me as a bit counterintuitive, when I see a man power walking down the street, and it is a gay rights group that assumes that he is gay.
I thought the idea was to move to an area where we were not making judgments of people’s sexual orientation simply because of stereotypes. Essentially this gay rights group is saying, “This guy must be gay, because he’s doing something that is traditionally viewed as effeminate.” Yet, were a straight man to say that, that would be pretty ignorant. My question is, what if the speed walker is straight? Then what? Actually, let’s take it one step further, since the politically correct stance to take is that gay men can be and often are just as masculine as straight men, what if Mr. T is gay? We have no way of knowing if it is never explicit. You can make all the arguments about the “suggestive-ness” of the ad, but when groups are out there to dispel stereotypes, they can ill-afford to make critical errors like this where they jump to the conclusion that one would only arrive at by employing those very same stereotypes.
I, for one, happen to believe that there are gay men out there who do not think speed walking is at all manly, and I also believe that there are straight men out there who enjoy speed walking. This is a keen example of how even those who think they’re doing a service, could actually be guilty of the very behavior they’re trying to quell. This is just like when the women’s student group at my law school wants to raise money (presumably to undertake further programming to help and support the idea of women in law school)…and then they have a bake sale.
I’m as progressive as they come, but I think people still get wound up about the wrong things sometimes. If you ask me, I really don’t think the theme of this commercial was all that bad, but then again, I’m not gay, and am not going to make it a habit of speaking for groups to which I do not belong. Truthfully, I thought what the real controversy would have been over was B.A. Barackus dropping a “cracker!” near the end, and/or the new slogan Snickers is unveiling, “Get some nuts!”
