Ice Cream Company Behind Offensive Spotify Ad Offers Apology
International ice cream company Magnum has tendered an apology for the Spotify ad that shocked British listeners recently when an accented male voice narrated a comparison between the "guilty pleasure" of a same-sex hug and the enjoyment of one of Magnum's frozen treats.
As previously reported at EDGE, the frozen dessert behemoth — which has supported LGBTQ causes with rainbow-themed editions of its ice cream bars, and which in 2015 launched an campaign in which gender-nonconforming ice cream fans were "true to [their] pleasure" — ran the controversial ad on Spotify in the UK, where listeners heard a man's accented voice announce, "A hug for my boyfriend — that's my guilty pleasure. Because in my country, just a simple hug with the man I love could send me to prison for more than 10 years."
A social media reaction was quick in coming, with those who heard the ad decrying it as tasteless. Some charged that the ad was "racist" and "homophobic," while others questioned whether nations that punish people for being gay would allow the eating of ice cream.
An ad for #Magnum ice cream bars just popped up on my #Spotify and it is the cringiest/funniest gay baiting ad ever. A foreign accented man laments how dangerous it is to hug his boyfriend in his country, but he won't get arrested for eating a Magnum! pic.twitter.com/S6WdzW9p51— Christa Blackmon (@TheOdalisque) August 2, 2019
A company spokesperson told Huffington Post UK that the firm "has a history of championing LGBTQ+ rights and Pride Month is a moment when lots of us celebrate progress.
"We're sorry for any offense caused by the advert, which aimed to bring awareness to the injustices people still face around the world," the spokesperson added.