Kraft Foods, Relationship

Members:

2003 Television 93% Report A Problem

With romantic piano music playing and candlelight, a man at the dinner table says with enthusiasm, "Wow...you ordered pizza. You sure know the way to a man's heart."

As he takes a bite, his dinnermate says, "I think all relationships are based on honesty." The camera then shows a man apparently in drag -- he's got a deep voice, heavy beard, along with makeup and a black wig he's toying with.

"Me too," the first man agrees, with his mouth full. "Mmmm, great toppings."

The other, now agitated, says, "Look. Before this goes any further. There IS something you should know." Confused, the first man asks, "You're married?"

"No!" the other says, and his dinner partner looks relieved. Continuing, the man in lipstick announces, "It's the pizza. It's not delivery....It's DiGiorno!"

"I knew you were hiding something," the diner says. With loving kindness, he tells the other, "I can read you like a book!" His partner smiles adorably.

Because it is over-the-top, it is not clear if the stubbly man is supposed to be simply in drag or taken as a true transgendered person -- most of the humor in the ad. His dinner partner, however, treats the circumstances as a given and is focused only on the pizza. Importantly, there is no moment of negative shock or "surprise," as with so many earlier ads, and thus for many it would be seen as a neutral to positive handling.

Company

Kraft Foods

Brand

DiGiorno

Industry

Packaged Foods

Media Outlet

Television

Country

United States

Region

North America

Agency

FCB Worldwide

AdRespect Themes

Same-Sex Affection

Same-Sex Couples/Families

Stereotype Twist

Camp/Gay Drag

GLBT Inclusion

Dude Looks Like a Lady

User Comments

Buzz Mann

I loved this ad when it was on TV. Those who felt it was offensive need to take the focus off the portrayal of trans people. It has nothing to do with that --- My interpretation was that the other man was blinded by love (for the pizza) and didn't care about anything else; including the appearance of his dining partner. One could even interpret it as "love is blind" and it doesn't matter what his partner appears to be, as long as he is being cared for and loved.

Bill Michael

I loved this ad! I about rolled off the couch the first time I saw it. The romantic dinner aspect was so sweet it just melted my heart right there.

Kathleen Culhane

I feel it important to call attention to the fact that the situation depicted in the ad has been the direct cause of death fo many transgendered women. For those of us that are attracted to straight men, divulging our past/origin can be worth our lives. For it to be belittled as in this ad is unconscionable.

Patty

It's called "camp." My girlfriend and I laughed our asses off. It is so over the top and non-representative or TG's or TV's, how can you take offence?

Victoria

Being tanssexual myself, I have the daunting prospect of having to inform my straight male partner of my medical condition. To say that I'm terrified is an understatement. One can only hope that commercials of the same offensive derogatory nature will not be shown over here in Great Britain. Hopefully I'll be alive long enough to find out...

Andrea Orr

I also saw this as offensive. The idea seemed like the one guy is so stupid that he can't even see his girlfriend is a guy in a dress.

Cheryl Cohen

It's great to see a couple getting along so well. This is one of my favorite commercials.

Rachel McBee

This ad is offensive as hell to transgendered people. Your "neutral to positive" rating really misses the boat on this one. And yes, the script clearly indicates this is supposed to be a transgender person, "you're married" and "knew you were hiding something." Look at your own rating scheme: "straight men being duped by 'false' women" is a huge "negative", and this "man in a dress" kind of portrayal is as offensive to transgender folk as a white actor putting on blackface to portray African-Americans would be to an actual African-American. You really ought to review this. Check the visitor ratings. People are offended, and you aren't going to be seeing this ad around much longer. I really don't think that down the road you're going to want to have gone on record as an apologist for this blatantly transphobic ad.

Nurith

Has anyone considered the possibility that the punchline of this joke is "surprise, the guy already [i]knows[/i] that his lover is transgendered," and that's not what this confession is all about, because no confession about that would be needed! It's really just the pizza"? Sure, the initial joke is that everyone expects the confession to be that the lover is a man (or a transsexual woman), but when the plot twists, it could just as well imply that the other guy already knew that and it's a completely different topic that's at stake... this way, the joke would be on the viewer and not on either of the protagonists. It's a sad statement about the state of the world if we can't even conceive of the idea that a guy could happily and knowingly date a crossdresser or a transsexual. If this was more accepted as a realistic possibility, it might have struck us more as what the ad might be implying.

Rebecca S.

Clearly a slap to the face for all transexuals who try very hard to change themselves so they can integrate into society as members of the opposite gender.

Dana Wolf

This commercial is pure garbage. An example of stereotyping and bad taste, and an offense of anyone who has had the physical and emotional hell of transtion. This is the sort of thing that makes those of us who transition seem to other people like frauds. To the "transgender" and "Genderf*ck" crowd, this is funny. To those of us who had to go through the flames to be a woman "or a man" this sort of thing is just bigotry. Plain and simple.

Andrea James

It’s always funny to me when it’s played this broad, where it’s so obvious that it’s just ridiculous.

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