Snickers' "Kiss" Super Bowl Commercial

One of the most highly-revered companies, at least in terms of humor potential for commercial advertisements, is Snickers. My all-time favorite commercial is a Snickers ad from their initial "Hungry? Why Wait?" campaign of the 1990's.

The classic commercial from that series is the "Chefs" commercial, but the better one, in my opinion, is the one that takes place at St. Peter's gate. An old man is trying to get into heaven, and is being asked a series of questions based upon his life's actions. These include, "You ripped the tags off your mattresses!" All the old man can do to respond is exclaim, 'What!?" after every accusation.

When taking into consideration my love for the Snickers' commercials of the past, I am sure you can imagine my anticipation for a new series of Snickers' advertisements.

Having introduced the potential of this company to create hilarious commercials, I must now sadly express my disappointment with their "Manly Kiss" ad.

The commercial features two automobile mechanics working at the hood of a car. One of them is eating a Snickers bar, and the second one decides he wants some of the candy. So he begins to eat from the other end.

Just as it originates in much the same fashion, this action ends in agreement with the infamous spaghetti scene of Lady and the Tramp. The two men ultimately reach the end of the candy bar and touch lips in a chocolaty man kiss.

Of course, they immediately break apart, and to remedy this "horrible" situation, they must perform a manly act. For both of them, this consists of their reaching beneath their shirts to their chest and ripping off a large chunk of their own hair.

What bothers me most about this commercial are the implications behind this act. Again, we are brought back into the idea of "a man's world." Had the image been two women kissing, the response would ultimately have been drastically altered.

My disappointment lies in Snickers' decision to take part in such an obvious cliché.