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This shocking advertisement from Hunt’s for their Manwich product endorses violence against men who like Broadway musicals for their costumes, dancing, and singing. Violence against non-gender-conforming men should never be the basis for an advertising campaign. This promotes gay-bashing.
Please tell Hunt’s, right here, that you won’t buy their product unless they remove this unfunny commercial from the web and the airwaves.
Here’s my complaint to them, that I typed into the little box provided on this form.
Your advertisement for Hunt’s Manwich uses violence against men who like Broadway musicals to sell your product. This is called gay-bashing.
I won’t buy a ConAgra product as long as this ad appears anywhere. You should be ashamed.
Along with Hunt’s, other food-like products from parent ConAgra include Marie Callender™, PAM™, Wolf™ Brand Chili, KidCuisine™, Rosarita™ Beans, Chef Boyardee™, Healthy Choice™, and Orville Redenbacher™ popcorn.
UPDATE: Video has been “removed by user” so archive copy shown above. Also, here’s another in the same series, mocking men who like shoes:
And the first in the series of commercials, which mocked men who get hair product from their stylists. I think you can tell where this is headed:
UPDATE 2: Statement from ConAgra:
“Thank you for contacting ConAgra Foods. The Manwich videos posted on YouTube were not meant to offend and we apologize if anyone was offended. We pulled the videos down as soon as we became aware of them,” wrote Jeff Mochal Director of Communications & External Relations for ConAgra Foods
30 Comments
thanks teddy, this is awful. I’ve never bought any of those products but i will complain nonetheless.
It is this kind of offhand approval of violence against non-gender-conforming people that gives people the impression it’s okay.
ConAgra is a huge conglomerate, I had no idea they own so many brands. The list in my post is a very short sample, from ads they had listed on their website. When you see the drop-down menu on the complaint form, you too will be amazed.
Oh, look, I have a case number already for my complaint! (Case#: 60075489) and an email:
Here’s a petition now, if anyone would like to sign it also:
http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-manwich-pull-violent-ads-from-youtube#?opt_new=t&opt_fb=t
Yes, they are huge and secretive, rather like ADM, Archer Daniels Midland.
Teddy, I clicked on the video to see the ad and got “This video has been removed by the user.”
Thanks! I was provided archive copies, and have added them to my post above, including the shoe-loving and hair-gel-using fellows. Seeing a pattern here?
I am.
Statement from ConAgra:
“Thank you for contacting ConAgra Foods. The Manwich videos posted on YouTube were not meant to offend and we apologize if anyone was offended. We pulled the videos down as soon as we became aware of them,” wrote Jeff Mochal Director of Communications & External Relations for ConAgra Foods
I just saw just the first archived ad and physical jumped at the last sequence. Yo, ConAgra, this is how you get people killed. You have just lost me permanently.
Good catch, Teddy.
How this can be a “not meant to offend, sorry YOU got offended” situation is bs. This is more corporate hate propaganda, going for divisive behavior to stir the rabble. And selling a shit product, also.
I know former and current ad execs. That was a crap excuse and clearly this was known given how fast the ads were jerked. There are a million other ways that the product could have been promoted that have nothing to do with promoting violence against *anyone*.
I was very sad to see Marie Callender listed; I guess I’ll have to start making my pot pies from scratch. Where’s Aunt Toby?
i’m betting it was a cut-out viral marketing campaign attempt, through a different ad agency than Hunt’s usually uses, in order to give ConAgra some deniability (“as soon as we became aware of them….”) while still giving the product buzz (“not meant to offend and we apologize if anyone was offended.”)
It can’t be both: either they were your product, and you did not mean to offend OR they were not your work product, and you just became aware of them and took them down.
Which is it, ConAgra?
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I’ve seen this happen before, where outsourcing the ads makes for a bad ad product and a bad decision, resulting in withdrawal.
It doesn’t look like gravitytank’s work, but it does look like a similar small edgy firm’s type of work. I’ll dig a little.
They weren’t “aware” that their advertising money was being spent this way? Like hell.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Teddy. :-)
From China’s Corporate Friends in High (and Low) Places (published in PR Watch, First Quarter 1997, Volume 4, No. 1):
That is the heart of the matter.
ConAgra used Omnicom for their previous ads for the Manwich unit.
I’m not successful finding the agency/network responsible for this output series. :(
They think they can get away with it because they have chosen SASA (straight-acting, straight-appearing) actors to voice the very non-straight, or non-male, sentiments about shoes, Broadway musicals, and hair products.
But their problem is that younger men, in my experience, enjoy those things regardless of the sexuality. Most men have decoupled sexual orientation from use of hair products, or cool shoes. That makes this not only an offensive ad (in the extreme) but a stupid one too.
Of course, I’m not very much in touch with the Manwich demographic, so perhaps they know their customer better than I do.
ConAgra can’t really have it both ways: apologize if our advertising offended AND we removed it as soon as we became away.
WHICH?
Thanks for checking, Kelly!
I think you are spot-on, here. This is a cut-out for which the main unit, ConAgra, has plausible deniability, but their statement reads wrong.
Wow.
i haven’t seen anything so blatant since The Hammer left The Hill.
It’s how it always goes.
I was fortunate enough to nix an ad for my current employer. But if I hadn’t seen it prior to ‘go to press’, there would have been hell to pay, and rightly so, from a specific demo (not gay). Further, it was just by accident that I saw it! Normally I wouldn’t have been in such a position.
Mindless rubber stamping is a problem in corp structures.
I liked Manwich, but then noticed the second ingredient was high fructose corn syrup. No more Manwich or any foods with high fructose corn syrup.
But, wow, these videos were ugly and mean, mean, mean. I flinched not only on the first one, but on the second I watched.
Yuck.
True. Not only are they trivializing violence, but they are also promoting stereotypes that are more irrelevant than ever.
Speaking of Manwich, I remember having Manwich on a bun once and taste-wise is wasn’t anything to write home about. It was also a runny mess, nothing like the prop they are using in the clips.