Protest After Heinz Holds the Mayo (Ad)

Wednesday June 25, 2008 11:55 AM EDT

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A gay rights group in the U.K. has called for the boycott of Heinz food products after the company yanked a TV commercial for mayonnaise in the wake of static over the ad's ending with two men kissing.

Britain's Advertising Standards Authority said that within a week some 200 complaints had been received about the commercial, which showed one man in a home kitchen, making sandwiches for two children off to school, before another man entered to pick up his lunch – and a kiss – before heading to the office.

Heinz U.K. spokesman Nigel Dickie told the Telegraph that the ad was meant to be "a humorous take on a slice of life," but added, in regard to the objections: "It is our policy to listen to consumers."

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay-rights group Stoneroup, told the paper: "We're shocked that an innocuous ad should have been withdrawn in this way … Our phones have not stopped ringing with supporters who are deeply upset."
– Stephen M. Silverman