Paul Annett

In the UK Heinz have pulled a TV ad showing a kiss between two men, after it received over 200 complaints that it was “offensive” and “inappropriate to see two men kissing”.

The advert shows a morning family routine - dad is getting ready for work whilst mum prepares sandwiches for the children. Because the sandwiches contain Heinz Deli Mayo, “mum” is visually represented by a stereotypical male New Work deli owner for comedic effect.

This advert does not feature a gay couple (as has been misreported in some cases) - it is a metaphor. The joke is that Heinz Deli Mayo makes sandwiches taste as if Mum’s kitchen has been transformed into a genuine New York deli.

Seemingly a fraction of the population didn’t understand that, and Heinz apparently agree with them that a parody situation where a man gives another man a goodbye peck before heading to work is offensive. That being the case, it rather strongly implies that they would consider any kind of genuine homosexuality to be even “worse”!

If offending 200 people causes them concern, I think they’ve just hit a PR disaster by offending the entire gay community. Not to mention straight people like myself who are offended that Heinz took the opinion of 200 bigoted complainers to be representative of the views of the entire nation. Wake up Heinz - this is 2008, not 1908!

Heinz has invited us to write a message to them, and I invite you to leave a comment here with your thoughts.

Click below to view the advert.

Our cats are away on holiday for a few weeks while we pack and move house. As cat owners around the world will probably empathise, this excellent animation from Tandem Films perfectly captures mornings with Fizz.

Click here to watch the clip on YouTube

My wife has been busy crafting in the lead-up to Christmas, making all sorts of goodies as gifts - she’s really amazingly talented and creative!

One idea which has become a bit of a hit this year are the vintage Ladybird books which she’s been rescuing from charity shops, dissecting, and binding with notepaper to create these unique retro Ladybird book notebooks. As well as a handy place to write your thoughts, the note paper is inter-leaved with the original Ladybird book pages for added nostalgia.

Each one is painstakingly handmade from the original second-hand Ladybird book, and finished with an appropriately coloured length of elastic to hold it shut and keep your secrets safe inside.

These Ladybird book notebooks make ideal Christmas presents, and best of all they’re available today from stupidgorgeous.co.uk!

Update: Even Vintage Ladybird books themselves are fans! They added Relly as a friend when she posted pictures of the notebooks to the Vintage Ladybird Books Flickr group.