5 ads that infuriated viewers in 2021

2021 was a precarious time to be an advertiser. With society ever more polarized along cultural lines (not to mention more angry people at home on the internet due to the pandemic), sometimes all it took was one negative comment on social media to set off a Twitterstorm, a Facebook pile-on or an Instagram conflagration. Here are some of the ideas that got people raging this year. See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here. Cadbury’s Creme Egg kiss Cadbury attracted the wrath of homophobes and hygiene obsessives with its U.K. TV ad in which a gay couple passed a Cadbury Crème Egg from mouth to mouth. But others praised the brand’s 50th anniversary spot, by agency Elvis, with several observing that advertising has often sexualized chocolate. As one pointed out: "People losing their minds over two men kissing over a Creme egg but have no problem with a woman cheating on her husband with an M&M?" A petition by a Catholic campaigner calling for the ad to be pulled attracted 30,000 signatures, but eventually the U.K’s Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the spot could stay on air. Plus, Cadbury pointed out the actors were a real-life couple, so no social distancing rules were broken. John Lewis Home Insurance's dancing boy John Lewis is accustomed to getting nothing but praise for its advertising, but this year, a backlash started to erupt. The offender was an ad by longtime agency Adam&Eve/ DDB for John Lewis Home Insurance, in which a little boy dons his mom’s clothing, jewelery and makeup and then vogues and spins through his home to a Stevie Nicks track, leaving a trail of mess in his wake while his mother and sister look on. On Twitter, some laid into the boy as “entitled” and “attention-seeking” and described the ad as “sexism encapsulated in 60 seconds.” But others complained that the product message, implying that the company’s insurance would pay out for deliberate damage, was misleading. The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority agreed, and ultimately, that was behind the brand's decision to pull the commercial off air. Read more: The 5 most unexpected ads from 2021 Tesco’s vaxxed Santa U.K. anti-vaxxers flocked to social media to complain about a Christmas ad from Tesco, the U.K.'s biggest retailer, because of a scene that shows Santa brandishing a "vaccine passport." In one scene, Santa triumphantly produces his double-vaccination "COVID pass" at the border gates after a news channel reported him to be "threatened with quarantine." The TV ad immediately provoked anger on Twitter with one woman posting that she would "never be shopping at Tesco again." More than 5,000 people subsequently complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, making it the second-most complained about U.K. ad of all time. But the complaints were not upheld, with the ASA concluding that it broke no rules. Read more: The 10 biggest stories of 2021 Snickers' 'homophobic' ice-cream bars ad Snickers apologized and pulled an ad for its ice cream bars in Spain after facing accusations of homophobia. In a rare public misstep by the brand in its long-running “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” campaign, the spot, by Contrapunto BBDO Madrid, featured Spanish influencer Aless Gibaja behaving in his trademark ultra feminine way, but then transforming into a bearded man after being handed a Snickers Ice Cream bar, commenting that he feels "better." Spanish LGBTQ organization Federación Estatal LGTBI+ called the ad “shameful and pitiful.” Read more: The worst buzzwords of 2021 Parece ser que comiendo @snickers_es se te quita la pluma y ya “estás mejor”. ¿Pero cómo sigue habiendo campañas así? 🤮 #Homofobiapic.twitter.com/ccdtn7BfAw— Mario Montes (@mariomnts) August 4, 2021 Burger King’s International Women’s Day tweet Burger King discovered the perils of a poorly written tweet thread on International Women’s Day this year. Its Burger King U.K. Twitter account began a thread explaining the campaign with the tweet “Women belong in the kitchen.” The first tweet ultimately led to the message that only a small percentage of chefs and head chefs are women. But people who only read the first tweet were disgusted and enraged that the brand would choose a day made to honor women to make such a sexist statement. Burger King later deleted the tweet and apologized. We hear you. We got our initial tweet wrong and we’re sorry. Our aim was to draw attention to the fact that only 20% of professional chefs in UK kitchens are women and to help change that by awarding culinary scholarships. We will do better next time.— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021 See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here.

5 ads that infuriated viewers in 2021

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