Group Claims Geico Commercial Promotes Bestiality
One Christian group is calling for Geico to pull a recent ad, claiming it promotes bestiality. One Million Moms, a group that monitor’s children’s programming, is up in arms over a commercial featuring a young woman on a date with pig when their car stalls on what appears to be lover’s lane. In the commercial, the woman hopes the “Maxwell” the pig shut the ringer of his phone off to avoid interruption. When the pig explains he used his Gieco app to call for a tow truck, she exhibits disappointment that they won’t be stuck for hours with “nothing to do.” Still ambivalent to her affectionate displays, the pig replies, “Oh I get it, you want to ‘pass the time’… Fruit Ninja!”
One Million Moms describes the commercial as “disgusting,” and offensive to customers. The group claims it received numerous complaints over Geico’s flippant portrayal of bestiality.
“Parents find this type of advertising offensive and unnecessary,” One Million Moms states on its Web site. “Airing a commercial with an animal in it will surely grab children’s attention, but this is a horrible commercial for families to see. Geico does not have our children’s best interest in mind.”
Its outrage over the Geico commercial isn’t the first time One Million Moms has cried bestiality, however. As recent as August 2012, the group made similar claims when Skittles aired a commercial depicting a young woman kissing a walrus. One Million Moms called for Skittles to pull its commercial, as well, stating Wrigley Co. irresponsibly took “lightly the act of bestiality.”
“We are not sure of Skittles’ thought process behind their new ad, but if they are attempting to offend customers, they have succeeded…” the group stated in August. “Parents find this type of advertising inappropriate and unnecessary. Does Skittles’ have our children’s best interest in mind? Skittles candies are for all ages, but their target market is children.”
But Wrigley defended its light-hearted commercial in an email to the Huffington Post, stating it never intended to offend people with its “irreverent humor” and didn’t believe the “imaginary situation” promoted “harm or inappropriate behavior with animals.”
One Million Moms needs to chill out. These commercials don’t promote bestiality—defined by Merriam-Webster as “sexual relations between a human being and a lower animal” any more than the Muppet Show has for decades. Is the group also protesting Kermit flirting with female guests on Sesame Street? Or what about Gonzo—whatever kind of creature he is—falling in love with chickens. It’s make-believe and kids get that. Give them a little credit. The same goes with the animals in the commercials—they’re not real.
Of course all this hubbub is coming from the same group that demanded JC Penney remove its commercial featuring Ellen DeGeneres and some of Santa’s elves, claiming doing so was “jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon.”