If Heinz wanted name recognition from a commercial, that certainly hit the mark. I thought it was funny. Based on their decision, I would STOP using their products.

I saw it, but really didn't get it. I didn't see it as being gay nor did I understand why the deli man was in his house and why kiss him? Sorry, I just didn't get it - not funny, not sexual - just didn't get it! I don't like mayo so it has no effect on my buying it.

I second that chiefdishwasher. I think that by pulling the ad you're being disrespectful to the gay community. I don't think they should have pulled it.

I think it's a cute, funny ad. I really wish everyone would stop being up in arms about things like this.

so sad that society is still so narrow-minded. maybe we should contact heinz and tell them their action is inappropriate and unsuitable for the 21st century.
plus, you dont see corporations reacting the same way when gay rights and equality groups raise the issue that there arent enough television ads or shows that feature gay relationships! that's kind of one-sided.

I thought it was funny and don't have a problem with it in the US. However, if I am reading this correctly, it was pulled in the UK. I am not familiar enough about the culture there or what is considered appropriate in the UK to make a comment on the decision to pull.

I thought it was funny, I actually didnt even believe them to be a realy gay couple. I thought of it as heinz since its deli mustard replaced the "mom" with a guy from the deli, and all the kids called her mom so thats what I think it meant.

Riptide - DITTO!

I thought it was cute, people need to stop being so up tight - REALLY.

I think the whole Deli guy thing was supposed to represent the mayo's 'New York' flavor. I thought it was funny.

I agree with riptide...the deli man was a stand in for mom...but it sure would be nice to see the day when expressions of love and affection between anyone causes less of an uproar than violence.

yea...you can't help who you love

I don't think it's a big deal at all. I was focusing more on the fact that the "mum" sounded like he's from NY but the family is British...but someone mentioned something about the mayo's NY flavor so I guess that makes sense.

The ad was pretty stupid. Did it make me want to buy their product? No. Did it explain a little more about what their product was? No. Success? No.
Gay or straight, whatever. That was a dumb ad. But it was an even dumber move to pull it.

Serious Eats has a good explanation:

http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/06/heinz-mayo-commercial...

"The point here seems to be that the sandwich tastes so good, it's like you have your own New York deli man in the kitchen—not that sandwiches taste better after two men kiss. Average domestic "Mum" can be transformed into a top-notch sandwich maker from the world's deli capital with Heinz Mayo.

The funny part is that the UK product isn't even widely available in New York, let alone the United States at all."

I thought it was cute. The fact that the mom looked like a deli man was supposed to be funny, especially with the kiss. I would think even children watching could figure that out. There's no single-sex parental relationship. Even if they were, I wouldn't have a big problem with it.

I thought that they were showing that they might mistake their mother for a deli guy... like the mayo is so authintic ya know... what do I know tho?

The thing about this is not that people complained about it, but that most people are just fine with the commercial, except the people that complained about it are just a bag of loud, whiny idiots who are in a minority but complain every time they see the Virgin Mary in a tortilla.

It's cute and harmless, but I can see how super-conservative people would be offended by it.

I thought the ad was both harmless and hilarious! I am more offended by Heinz's decision to remove the ad. I really don't think that there are enough mayo-swilling, ultra-conservative blowhards out there to hurt their bottom line. They should have used the flap to grow a pair and make a statement against such idiocy.

I agree with shoneyjoe..it didn't seem like a way to sell the product.

Even though I can't view the ad(because I'm at work and it's disabled) just reading Party's explanation and everyone's comments, I agree that it should be harmless, especially this day and age. I also agree with girlrunner's comment that the UK has a different culture and with fashion4ward's comment about the conservatives.

what is interesting is this wasn't a sexual ad at all. girlrunner hit it on the nose with with what Serious Eats said. That's how I took the commercial, not that it was a same sex marriage/relationship. weird. There was an article in Newsweek last week about how sad that a small minority of complainers (not their term but mine)can cause a company to pull an add or decision.

i see absolutely nothing wrong with it at all...this is how life is these days!! people need to stop being so uptight!!

Now that I've had a chance to watch it, I agree that the "Mum" was replaced with a New York deli guy, not a gay parent couple. The personification (if that word is being used correctly) works great!

What I'm assuming was the issue, was the kiss at the end...that may not have seemed appropriate to some.

I'd give Heinz points for using the ad in the first place, for not rejecting this ad idea out of hand because it has two men kissing. That's more progressive and refreshing than a lot of other companies (like say, the cleaning product companies that almost always have ads that feature a woman smiling like a zombie as she cleans). It's not Heinz's fault that other people got their knickers in a knot and they had to make a business decision based on that.

Would Heinz come out looking awesome if they stood their ground instead of caving just like that? Sure. But it's not really most businesses' usual MO to take that kind of risk - businesses really would rather try to please everybody and not alienate any of their consumers. Seems a little unfair to put them on the same level as the haters just for that.

I used to think the UK was more ahead in terms of progressiveness than the US though. Does anyone watch Doctor Who? Torchwood? That's mainstream UK pop cult, right? and there's stuff on those shows that'd probably get complaints on the level of Janet Jackson's boob-gate if shown on major network television in the US.

OKay sorry to say this... but anyone who doesnt get this is not looking at it correctly, as soon as I saw it I the same way Lynne did, its a commercial for deli style mustards... there fore the character who is suppossed to be the mother in the family (not that there is anything wrong with a same sex parental relationship) but instead of a mom making all the lunches, they have put a deli guy there to kind of insinuate that the mustards will make your sandwiches just like from the new york deli. I didnt think it was intentionally sexual, or same sex relationship promotional. However I do think we need to stop being so put off and afraid by same sex relationships, everyone is a person and so what if you show a same sex couple on tv ? its 2008 and we shouldnt be promoting hate anymore!

Hienz is marketing, if they feel the majority of America is not going to support them for this commercial then they will pull it.
Hienz Inc. doesn't really care to get involved in making a bold political or moral statement,plainly seen...

I agree that this was not really meant to represent a gay couple. Nonetheless, it's sad that it was pulled because some people perceived it that way and were offended. Let's take this to an extreme extrapolation - if we pull ads featuring gay people because some homophobes wrote nasty letters, should we also then pull ads featuring various ethnic actors because racists write nasty letters? The discrimination that homosexuals currently experience is very similar to the racism that has plagued us for ages and is only now just *starting* to abate. Looks to me like the nastiness has just passed on to the next group in line. When will we, as a people, get over ourselves and live and let live?

I don't like it. I don't like the questions it brings up from my children etc.

I thought it was funny.

I have been impressed with the liberalism and insight given by so many comments. This commercial is indeed about replacing mom with a NY deli guy.

I thought it was funny, but when as I was reading the post the first thing I thought was that the Heinz decision-makers are a bunch of pansies! People really need to loosen up!

i thought the ad was rather cute and funny.
its a shame that they had to take it off air

I LOVE this commercial! I think it was totally adorable and should not have been pulled from the air under any circumstances. I'll think twice about buying Heinz products from now on thanks to that decision.

How is it offensive to where it had to be pulled? The closed-mindedness in society is what is offensive. I thought the commercial was cute.

i hate the uk and i live here

I didn't get the gay reference. I took the ad to be an actual woman just in "deli man" form. I found nothing wrong with the ad and found it hysterical. I'm working in the UK right now and saw it twice last week. loved it.

i think it's hysterical. and i agree, it does make me lose some respect for heinz for pulling it off the air

i liked the commercial. i didn't see it as a "gay" ad, but as what a mom feels like in the mornings. did anyone else see the irony? i guess not.

Yeah...I agree that the deli guy was a stand-in for mom. It makes since because it's supposed to be a NY Deli Mayo and the rest of the family was British. I think it's cute!

It's sad that Heinz let themselves be influenced like that.

Kraft Foods has been marketing several of their brands in Central Europe (e.g. France, Germany) by airing a series of funny ads that show different couple situations - het, or 2m or 2f. Of course the usual bunch of ultra-conservative, backwards, ultra-religious commentary could be heard, but nobody really listened, and polls by big mags were very favorable.

riptide that makes sense given their press release says "The ad was meant to be humorous and we apologize to anyone who felt offended." Ithink ads like these are good for spreading acceptance, if it was meant in that light.

Yeah I'm thinking the people who are offended missed the entire point of the ad. Also, what's the big deal with a same-sex couple anyway? It is 2008 people, time to get over your homophobia. There are wars and genocides going on in the world and you have nothing better to do than nitpick.

I thought it was pretty funny. I was not offended at all.

I didn't get the ad nor did I think it was very good. That being said, I certainly wasn't offended by it! I would have pulled the ad only because it was bad.

It is offensive that this ad was withdrawn because people are offended by homosexuals! The ad itself is obviously not supposed to be a gay relationship, and is just funny and well done. But the response from the few frothing members of the British public and then Heinz is very depressing.

To the comment above that they don't like the questions it may prompt their children to ask: what is so hard about telling your child that usually men love women and women love men, but sometimes men love men and women love women? Kids don't think about sex, and they're perfectly capable of understanding that two people can fall in love. Perhaps normalising same sex relationships at an earlier age would go some way to easing the horrible homophobia that exists in schools now. It's quite scary that some people think having to talk about gay couples to kids means taking them to some inappropriate 'adult' level.

i didn't understand it at first, but now i get it. i think it's so stupid that they decided to pull it!

Its a good ad

ditto that crazylovevbug