So, Heinz releases an ad they must have known would cause a controversy, in which two men kiss.
Not of course, because they’re in love or anything like – my reading of the ad is one where the family are so far into taking their mum for granted that she can entirely be replaced by some strange American guy in a chef outfit and none of them even notice.
So, Heinz releases a controversial ad, and then, surprise surprise, there’s a storm of complaints from the fundies.
So they pull the ad.
Then there’s a storm of complaint from the gayers.
In this process they have annoyed a tiny minority of religionists at one end of the spectrum, and a tiny minority of gays at the other, and the vast majority of unaffected people in the middle of the two who don’t care either way get subjected to weeks and weeks of free coverage in newspapers, media and blogs. The gays and the fundies will be boycotting the brand, but now everyone else will have heard of it.
Now even Nick Clegg is weighing in with more free advertising for Heinz.
Bah.
They may be slightly less happy though with the publicity they’ve had highlighting that the ad couldn’t be shown during children’s programmes – not because of the kiss, but because of its high fat, sugar and/or salt content.
It’s MAYONNAISE! It’s SUPPOSED to be high fat!
Perhaps I’m not typical of the people in the middle of your spectrum, but pulling the ad has made me think an awful lot less of Heinz. Yes, I’ve become more aware of them, but no – that’s no good news for them.