White_Male_Canada
06-16-2006, 06:20 PM
Gay group: Ad is anything but cute
Chrysler Group campaign to sell Dodge Caliber hits a nerve with use of fairy in 'Too Tough' spot.
Josee Valcourt / The Detroit News
The Dodge Caliber's "Anything but Cute" advertising campaign featuring a fairy in one television spot is anything but funny to some in the gay community.
Some viewers and gay rights supporters have complained the Chrysler Group commercial -- dubbed "Too Tough" and featuring a fluttering fairy zapping buildings and trains into cuter-looking gingerbread houses and toy trains -- is offensive and borders on homophobic.
The fairy is unsuccessful at transforming a black Caliber and is mocked by a male passer-by walking a dog. "Silly little fairy," he says.
As retribution, the fairy turns the pedestrian's button-down shirt and jeans attire into white shorts and a polo shirt draped with a preppy sweater. His black dog leash becomes four pink ones connected to Pomeranians. The suggestion, some say, is the man was turned into a homosexual.
"It directly finds humor with the term fairy, referring not just to the type that flies around with a magic wand, but also the universally recognizable gay stereotype of an effeminate gay man," the Commercial Closet said in an online review of the ad. Thenon-profit organizationmonitors marketing tactics that could be offensive to gays and lesbians.
Chrysler has come under fire before for controversial advertising. In 2004, the Dodge pulled out of sponsoring the racy Lingerie Bowl during the halftime of the Super Bowl in the face of criticism.
The 30-second Caliber ad was produced by BBDO Worldwide and is one of five Caliber commercials to introduce the 2007 four-door hatchback to the public. It hit dealers' showrooms in February. Chrysler's customer service department has received several telephone complaints, said spokeswoman Suraya Bliss.
"We were pretty surprised that there are individuals that are making the conclusion that sexual orientation can be determined by the type of clothes you wear and the type of dog that you're walking," Bliss said.
"Are they suggesting that men that wear colored shirts are gay or that all gay men dress alike? What we would ask someone to do is look at the ad for what it is," she said. "The ad is about the Dodge Caliber, which is a small car that stands apart from the competition because of its aggressive styling, styling that's anything but cute -- the tagline for the campaign."
The Caliber commercial has earned a negative score on Commercial Closet's site. As part of its rating system, Commercial Closet scours the media for ads that insinuate stereotypes or emit homophobic messages. The Caliber ad is stereotypical, said Mike Wilke, executive director of the Web site.
"We find an editorial issue with the use of the word fairy," Wilke said. "There is a real fairy, meaning the woman with a magic wand, but also the way she's confronted by the guy on the street. The way he delivers the line is more indicating of how he might say that to a man."
Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, said it's difficult to make an entertaining commercial so a product or brand is noticeable while not offending a particular group.
"The key is if you find an ad that's offensive, then you have to respond and in some cases take it off the air," Calkins said. "If you have a brand that has a broader consumer base, then it can't offend certain consumer groups," he said.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060406/AUTO01/604060380/1148
Chrysler Group campaign to sell Dodge Caliber hits a nerve with use of fairy in 'Too Tough' spot.
Josee Valcourt / The Detroit News
The Dodge Caliber's "Anything but Cute" advertising campaign featuring a fairy in one television spot is anything but funny to some in the gay community.
Some viewers and gay rights supporters have complained the Chrysler Group commercial -- dubbed "Too Tough" and featuring a fluttering fairy zapping buildings and trains into cuter-looking gingerbread houses and toy trains -- is offensive and borders on homophobic.
The fairy is unsuccessful at transforming a black Caliber and is mocked by a male passer-by walking a dog. "Silly little fairy," he says.
As retribution, the fairy turns the pedestrian's button-down shirt and jeans attire into white shorts and a polo shirt draped with a preppy sweater. His black dog leash becomes four pink ones connected to Pomeranians. The suggestion, some say, is the man was turned into a homosexual.
"It directly finds humor with the term fairy, referring not just to the type that flies around with a magic wand, but also the universally recognizable gay stereotype of an effeminate gay man," the Commercial Closet said in an online review of the ad. Thenon-profit organizationmonitors marketing tactics that could be offensive to gays and lesbians.
Chrysler has come under fire before for controversial advertising. In 2004, the Dodge pulled out of sponsoring the racy Lingerie Bowl during the halftime of the Super Bowl in the face of criticism.
The 30-second Caliber ad was produced by BBDO Worldwide and is one of five Caliber commercials to introduce the 2007 four-door hatchback to the public. It hit dealers' showrooms in February. Chrysler's customer service department has received several telephone complaints, said spokeswoman Suraya Bliss.
"We were pretty surprised that there are individuals that are making the conclusion that sexual orientation can be determined by the type of clothes you wear and the type of dog that you're walking," Bliss said.
"Are they suggesting that men that wear colored shirts are gay or that all gay men dress alike? What we would ask someone to do is look at the ad for what it is," she said. "The ad is about the Dodge Caliber, which is a small car that stands apart from the competition because of its aggressive styling, styling that's anything but cute -- the tagline for the campaign."
The Caliber commercial has earned a negative score on Commercial Closet's site. As part of its rating system, Commercial Closet scours the media for ads that insinuate stereotypes or emit homophobic messages. The Caliber ad is stereotypical, said Mike Wilke, executive director of the Web site.
"We find an editorial issue with the use of the word fairy," Wilke said. "There is a real fairy, meaning the woman with a magic wand, but also the way she's confronted by the guy on the street. The way he delivers the line is more indicating of how he might say that to a man."
Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, said it's difficult to make an entertaining commercial so a product or brand is noticeable while not offending a particular group.
"The key is if you find an ad that's offensive, then you have to respond and in some cases take it off the air," Calkins said. "If you have a brand that has a broader consumer base, then it can't offend certain consumer groups," he said.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060406/AUTO01/604060380/1148