Earlier this week, the Media Research Center freaked out over an androgynous male model. Now, it’s a candy commercial.
An Aug. 28 CNSNews.com article by Penny Starr uncritically repeats the claims of the right-wing American Family Association’s One Million Moms about the alleged offensiveness of a commercial for Skittles candy “that features a young woman french kissing a walrus.” Starr writes that the group argues “it is ‘irresponsible’ for Mars and Wrigley to make an ad of this kind that promotes a product used by children.”
But neither Starr nor the AFA offer any evidence that the commercial was targeted at children — after all, children aren’t the only people who buy Skittles. Nor do they explain why all ads for everything, even products not for children, apparently must be dumbed down to a child’s level.
The MRC wasn’t done with the manufactured outrage, however. MRC chief Brent Bozell’s Aug. 31 column also references the Skittles ad, insisting without evidence that “the ad is targeted to children.” Bozell goes on to whine that “this is a thoroughly bizarre way to sell candy to children,” adding that “upsetting people who protest indecencies to children doesn’t bother them at all.”
Again, no MRC employee has offered evidence that this ad was targeted to children — the one thing that would make this something other than a manufactured controversy from a pair of right-wing groups peddling professional prudery.