TEXAS – Frito-Lay has confirmed they will not air two gay-themed Doritos commercials during this week’s Super Bowl, and despite rumors, they never intended to.
Little did Frito-Lay know what a Pandora’s Box they opened when they launched their Doritos Crash the Super Bowl ad contest late last year. They invited entrants to write, shoot and produce a 30-second TV commercial and submit it to the company. According to the Texas-based snack maker, 5,600 ads were submitted, two of which were gay-themed.
Through YouTube, these two ads have been all over the Internet. The two gay-themed 30-second videos appear to be ads for Doritos snack chips. In one spot, a man licks his lips watching his supposedly gay neighbors eat Doritos; in the other, a man appears to be reaching for another’s nether regions in a sauna, before it’s revealed that he’s actually reaching for a bag of chips placed in an inconvenient location.
There has been confusion as to whether the ads will run during the biggest television event of the year or not. Earlier Doritos said they were planning to air them, but now according to a spokesperson they won’t be airing.
“The ads in question are not among the finalists chosen by a panel of judges, and have no chance of airing during the Super Bowl or otherwise,” said Frito-Lay Director of Public Relations Chris Kuechenmeister. “The contest’s judges sought to identify spots that were appropriate for everyone and observe a level of respect for everybody.”
Even though the spots do not appear on the contest’s official page the company has no direct ability to remove them from YouTube. Kuechenmeister said he would be raising the issue with the company’s legal team.
