Friday, February 09, 2007

Bravo and Snickers

Sovo links to Zach Hudson's Washington Blade article about Bravo network receiving criticism from GLAAD. A recent episode of the network's "Real Housewives of Orange County" aired a heated confrontation between two teenage brothers. Their curse words were bleeped out. But their frequent use of words like "faggot" and "homo" were not.

Even though I hate them when used this way, I'm not the type to flinch every time I hear those words. Unfortunately, they are still the put down of choice for guys - particularly younger ones. I'm not even sure if they are fully conscious of what they are saying. It's so ingrained that it's probably just a reflex. But, therein lies the problem. They should be conscious of the meaning and context of those words. And it shouldn't be just a reflex. Perhaps bleeping those words out would help just a little bit.

Perhaps this sort of thing is the reason why so many people are upset over the Snickers commercial that aired during the Super Bowl featuring two men accidentally kissing and then acting disgusted by it. Snickers pulled the ad. But it was a commercial done in poor taste and judgement. And I can't help but feel that it re-inforces negative stereotypes about gay people and the fact that gay people do sometimes like to show their affections just as straight people do.

Though I do take exception to the commercial, I liked what A Typical Joe had to say about it. He says he "didn't find it homophobic." He just called it really bad.

Speaking of Bravo, when's Kathy Griffin's show bringing out the new ones? I miss her!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I dont know why that commercial bothered me but it did. It was more because i thought it was stupid that anything else. I don't think it had to do with the "we are not being tough enough" idea behind it. It was just kind of idiotic.