Mars Retracts Anti Gay Ads

Mars Retracts Anti Gay Ads

*Following complains by LGBT civil rights groups, Mars Inc. has pulled its controversial advertising campaign featuring a gay kiss. The commercial, which aired during CBS’s Super Bowl this past Sunday, showed two mechanics eating from opposite ends of a Snickers bar and after their mouths touch, ripping out their chest hair in an attempt to “do something manly.”
However, in a statement to the New York Times, Alice Nathanson, the spokesperson for Mars, refused to apologize for the campaign or admit they were wrong to show it: “Our goal was to capture the attention of our core Snickers consumer, primarily 18-to-24-year-old adult males…Feedback from our target consumers has been positive, and many media and website commentators on this year’s Super Bowl ranked the commercial among this year’s best.”

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David and Wife Do the South of France

David and Wife Do the South of France

While Los Angeles is buzzing over the imminent arrival of my David and his wife Victoria Beckham, the glamorous couple have taken time out from house hunting Stateside for a break in the South of France. The pair, who own a house in a small village not far from Nice, jetted into the city’s airport on Monday night.

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More Hot Aussie Bums

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AussieBums Sean Ashby

Australian fashion designer Sean Ashby has come a long way in the four years since using his life savings to set up men’s swimwear and clothing business aussieBum. The company has doubled in size each year since then. This past financial year it earned more than $5 million in sales and it carries no debt.

“The business has grown five or six times in terms of volume, but also awareness,” Ashby, 37, said.

Ashby, himself a keen surfer and swimmer, worked in the entertainment industry before thinking up the idea of aussieBum when he found it hard to find a good pair of men’s cossies. So he used his $20,000 in savings to make a series of prototypes and buy materials and began approaching local Australian retailers.

“The swimwear I wanted was not available so I took a bit of faith and just did it,” he said. “I had some savings for a house so I used that money to invest in getting all of the range created.”

But Ashby found local retailers did not see any potential in the product. So he took the rejections on the chin and instead launched an internet retailing business and began approaching department stores in Europe and the United States.

And luckily he did. Celebrities waering Aussie Bums include Ewan McGregor and Billy Connolly are fans of the cossies while Aussie pop singer Kylie Minogue featured buff men wearing aussieBum cossies in the video clip for her song Slow. Gorgeous soccer darling and men’s fashion trendsetter David Beckham has also been spotted in the brand.

Check out Aussie Bums site for more pics
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Marco Dapper Frontier

In which we indulge our fantasies of converting the hottest straight boy out there, Eating Out 2’s super stud Marco Dapper

By GREG HERNANDEZ
Photos by ZEKE RUELAS
Illustrations by MICHAEL WERTZ
Source Frontiers Publishing

Meet Marco Dapper, your typical young actor looking for his big break. But unlike most other people in this town, he may just get it, with the Dec. 8 release of his first feature film, Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds. A sequel to 2004’s raunchy comedy with a heart of gold, the movie stars Dapper, Brett Chukerman, and returning cast members Jim Verraros, Emily Brooke Hands, and Rebekah Kochan.

The 23-year-old Dapper is from Oakland, but has been in L.A. for several years. He takes acting classes, models, goes on auditions, and works for a company that does setup for Hollywood parties. As if his looks aren’t fantasy fodder enough, we also heard that he used to be a UPS deliveryman. Let the “package” jokes begin.

FRONTIERS: How do you feel about being on the cover of Frontiers’ naughty issue?
MARCO DAPPER: It’s cool! I think we are all a bit naughty here and there.

So what landed you the role in Eating Out 2—your acting or your abs?
Probably both! [Laughs] It was a combination of those two things: a person who could act with the abs. There were a lot of good looking, ripped-up guys auditioning. I walked in and said, “Oh crap.” So I think it had something to do with my acting, because there were a lot of hunky men there, like 15 guys with that top-model look. But I knew I had something to offer.

Tell me about your character in the film.
He’s Troy from Illinois who comes out west. He’s curious, doesn’t know if he’s straight or gay. He meets Jim’s character and Brett’s character, and Rebekah and Emily, and they all scheme in trying to get me to swing either way. Here I am trying to figure out myself and they are taking advantage of me. Bastards.

Your character goes to a sort of reformed gay group. What do you think about that? Can gay people be “rehabilitated”?
I don’t believe it personally. I guess you could be bisexual. If you like a dude, that’s who you are. If I like a woman, that’s who I am. Overall, you know when you are kid that you are gay. I think you are born with it.

Did playing a gay man in the movie affect your views?
It was actually a real eye-opener for me. I wasn’t involved in the gay community at all. I wasn’t homophobic—I used to go to the Castro District for Halloween—but it was a touchy subject. I didn’t really know many gay people at all except for a few teachers. But I stated talking to the cast and getting to know everyone, and it opened my eyes to what the community is.

Since you are straight, did you have any concerns about playing a gay sex scene?
I knew wouldn’t have a problem. I was comfortable with it. I was a little nervous at first, but he’s an actor, I’m an actor, get over it. We’re both actors here.

Did you enjoy it?
I’m not gay and I don’t have tendencies, but I do make it believable. I’ve had guys say, “You’re gay, right? You looked like you were enjoying it.” I try to act and have the audience buy that. I learn the lines then throw them away so I can live in the moment, take in other people. I want to live in the moment and go off the other character.

You still must get a lot of attention from guys.
I was hit on since I moved in! Guys buy me drinks and I say, “Thanks, bro!” Then they are smiling and staring. Everyone says I’m a flirt. I don’t feel like I’m a flirt. I’m confident in myself. I can look you in the eye and talk to you and not worry about what you think. I’m a very soulful kind of person; I respect everyone’s soul and character.

What’s it like to be the fantasy of both men and women?
I’m having fun. If you gotta be a piece of meat, you gotta be.

Marco Dapper SLoppy Seconds Opens February 10th Sydney
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Marco Dapper Interview Part 2

Part 2
By GREG HERNANDEZ
Photos by ZEKE RUELAS
Illustrations by MICHAEL WERTZ
Source Frontiers Publishing

In the movie, your body is jaw-droppingly chiseled. Just how often do you work out?
About five days a week. After I graduated from high school, I started seriously working out. I was a smaller kid in high school. I decided to get in shape and turn it around.

Everyone has a thing for UPS guys. What about your days as a UPS man? Did you get a lot of phone numbers?
I know everyone loves that fantasy, but I don’t want to live a lie: I worked in the warehouse. I wasn’t a brownie. I don’t want to break everyone’s heart, but I was a grunt.

You had to be naked a lot in this film. Were you cold?
It was warm around that film! I didn’t feel self-conscious. I am who I am. I think everyone should have confidence. I didn’t lose sleep over it.

Besides getting to see you naked, why should people buy a ticket to this movie?
It’s very funny. I laughed more than I thought I would. With the first [Eating Out] movie, I didn’t think it was funny at all, because a lot of the jokes were gay-oriented. The second one I think will appeal to both gay and straight audiences. It has universal appeal.

Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (Ariztical Entertainment), directed by Phillip J. Bartell and opening Friday, February 10th, in Sydney is about a gay guy (out American Idol Jim Verraros) who’s just broken up with his “outta my league” boyfriend (Brett Chukerman) and is pursuing sexy, sexually confused artist’s model Troy (Marco) by pretending to be an ex-gay. Rounding out the cast are Rebekah Kochan as unapologetic slut Tiffani (who can taste how long it’s been since a guy last came), Emily Brooke Hands as gay-male obsessed Gwen and former teen heartthrob Scott Vickaryous as ex-gay activist (more like passivist) Jacob. It’s a film I’ve already given a KY-lubed thumbs-up to, mainly because it manages to be political and witty along with sexy and laugh-out-loud outrageous. The excellent script, co-written by Bartell and by Q. Allan Brocka (director of the first in the series and of Boy Culture), forces its actors to sink or swim—it’s not enough to be eye candy.

More Marco Dapper Images here
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NBA Player John Amaechi to come out

John Amaechi, a former player with the Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic, has become the first NBA player to come out as gay.

Amaechi will announce publicly for the first time that he is gay on an episode of ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” to air Feb. 11 at 9:30amET, Outsports has learned. His book, “Man In The Middle,” published by ESPN Books, in which he chronicles his NBA career and directly addresses the travails of being a closeted professional athlete, will be released Feb. 14.

Amaechi’s sexuality has been rumored for years. In an April 2001 column for Outsports, NBA columnist Randy Boyd named Amaechi, then playing with the Orlando Magic, as No. 16 among those in the NBA most likely to be gay.

“Could be that the Nigerian-Brit just operates on a different planet?” Boyd asked in his column. “But then again, that explanation for his atypical behavior wouldn’t be any fun now would it?”

That atypical behavior included a penchant for designing gardens, listening to opera before games and writing poetry.

In Amaechi’s first contact with Outsports in December, he asked with his playful sense of humor, “Why wasn’t I higher than 16th?”

Outsports has been tracking this story for the last year, as quiet rumblings in private conversations started to surface, and had agreed to embargo a story until just prior to his first TV appearance. However, speculation that Amaechi was coming out has become heavy in the past few days, with his publicist, Howard Bragman, dropping hints at a Super Bowl week party in Miami about an NBA player coming out.
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Snickers Gay Kiss Commercial

Masterfoods USA, part of Mars Inc., has reacted quickly to concerns over the allegedly prejudice-fueling ad campaign for Snickers. The Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation complained to the maker of Snickers that their ad campaign was promoting homophobia. The ad had its first screening during Super Bowl XLI on Sunday.

“This type of jeering from professional sports figures at the sight of two men kissing fuels the kind of anti-gay bullying that haunts countless gay and lesbian school children on playgrounds all across the country,” Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said in a statement.

GLAAD spokesman Marc McCarthy said Tuesday the group believed “this kind of prejudice was inexcusable.” “Mars needs to apologize for the deplorable actions of its Snickers brand,” GLAAD president Neil Giuliano.

Apparently, the gay-themed campaign revolves around two men who come to kiss each other nibbling from both ends of a Snickers bar. What follows is a reaction of disgust, different in each ad variant. Three alternate endings to the commercial were posted on a special Snickers website created by Mars, Inc. In all three the men, two mechanics, do something to “neutralize” the accidental homosexual kiss. The alternate endings have them ripping off chest hair, the two John Does drinking motor oil, fighting with wrenches or being joined by a third mechanic who asks, “Is there room for three on this love boat?”

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People Magazine reports that Jennifer Hudson calls Idol abusive

(American Idol’s reject who luckily won a Golden Globe for her role in Dreamgirls) .

“On American Idol, you go through this mental thing; you’ve got to get yourself back together. You’ve been abused, misled and brainwashed to believe whatever they want you to think,” Hudson, 25, tells the new issue of Essence. “You become a character – I became the girl in the turkey wrapping.” (On one episode, she wore an unflattering outfit that earned that label.) “I just knew I had to sing my way out of it. I don’t believe in looking back, and I didn’t look back.”

Oh, I’m so sorry American Idol has treated you badly. I mean, it was just so mean of them to give you a chance to audition on their show, put you through the next round to Hollywood, and then some more rounds, and then some publicity, and then some records, and then a big screen movie - just basically soo abusive of them to put your face on the map so America would know who the hell you are and go see your movie that earned you a big-time Golden Globe. Yes, we deeply feel for you, Jennifer. Damn that American Idol - they’re such jerks!

And here is Jennifer Hudson singing the jennifer Holiday song!


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Mardi Gras 2007 launched!

I’m not sure how successful the “Mob Launch” of Mardi Gras on Saturday, following the Red Carpet Launch the night before, was. I dont know anyone that went, despite the leaked news that Little Britain stars Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams were going to be there.

On Saturday, at Customs House Square Lucas, dressed as Daffyd, and Walliams dressed as Emily Howard, cut a rainbow ribbon, declaring the season open.

Not to dwell on the past but last years launch was abysmall and many people stayed away. The flash mob idea was an attempt to strip the event back to the basics visibility and community.

The flash mob style of launch also meant that Mardi Gras could be reclaim a public space, like the Opera House steps, and incorporate this iconic location into their event without being plagued by the problems inherent in actually hiring the area out exclusively.

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Kylie and French actor Olivier Martinez split!

Pop star and gay icon Kylie Minogue has separated from her boyfriend of four years it emerged last night. Kylie confirmed the split in a statement to the Press Association.

The statement released on behalf of the former couple said: “Olivier Martinez and Kylie Minogue have officially confirmed that they are no longer a couple.

“They have made it clear that the decision to go their separate ways was mutual and amicable.

“The media’s false accusations of disloyalty have saddened them both. The two remain very close friends.”

An exhibition of Kylie’s career opens at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London next Thursday
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Australian government propose new homophobic law

The federal government of Australia is to bring forward legislation that will ensure that foreign children adopted by a same-sex couples will not be recognised as having two parents.

An amendment the Family Law Act will bar any legal recognition in Australia of adoptions by same-sex couples which have taken place in other countries.

Senator Andrew Bartlett and gay activist Rodney Croome drew attention to the proposed new law on their blogs.

Senator Bartlett, leader of the Australian Democrats since 2002, said:

“To use children and their relationship with their adopted parents as political pawns in an election year is setting a new low.

“After all, it won’t even prevent an adoption, it will just leave children who have been adopted with reduced legal and social recognition and protection, and a less stable family environment.”

The Senate is about to start a new session, and the government have proposed the Family Law (Same Sex Adoption) Bill.

The brief explanation for the Bill’s purpose is:

“To amend the Family Law Act 1975 to indicate that adoptions by same sex couples of children from overseas under either bilateral or multilateral arrangements will not be recognised in Australia.”

It is the latest attempt by the federal government of John Howard to restrict the rights of gay and lesbian couples.

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