Mr. Sub fires BOS over, like super super gay dad.

Marketing reports that Mr. Sub has fired its agency BOS after accusations of homophobia.

Turns out that the CAW (Canadian Auto Workers) have letter-chain-mail prowess, and when they were offended by the like super, super gay dad's coming out speech, the union released their wave of complaint mails which prompted Mr Sub to fire Bos at once. (I'm picturing Auto Workers in super-hero outfits shooting letters like Spiderman when writing this, can you tell?)

“In the last few days, the sandwich chain Mr. Sub has come out with a new commercial which is shocking (and completely ridiculous) in the way that it mocks the LGBT community,” wrote Devine in one e-mail. “This is offensive and we must let Mr. Sub know that making fun of our LGBT sisters and brothers and the very difficult and often painful coming out process is no way to sell submarine sandwiches.”
In her letter to Mr. Sub president Jack Levinson, Devine said making light of the coming out experience was inappropriate. “In fact, coming out to one’s family and friends is a major cause of stress and anguish as people face the rejection, misunderstanding and outward disapproval of their loved ones.”
By Wednesday, the union was told by Mr. Sub in an unsigned e-mail from Mr. Sub’s “Information & Help Line” that it “decided to end its relationship with BOS, as clearly this campaign has not met the objective of positively engaging with our customers.” The note from Mr. Sub also said “all possible efforts have been taken to remove the ad from Internet websites.”

(more inside)

Bos fired back, saying "it is most unfortunate that Mr. Sub has chosen to terminate our relationship over the complaints for an ad which they approved" which is ad-speak for "where are your balls now?" and BOS said in an email to Marketing "...there was no malicious intent. We did not mean to belittle the ‘coming out’ experience. Nor did we mean to imply that it was a bad thing. In fact, we were very careful to downplay the reactions of the family members so the father’s announcement would not be perceived as being catastrophic. It is most unfortunate that others have interpreted this commercial otherwise.”

Meanwhile Duane Booth who writes for About: Gay Life wonders if the gay community has lost its sense of humor and pleads with people to lighten up.

Apparently when it comes to satire, gay people are off limits. We’re too precious to be a punchline. Someone’s feelings might get hurt. If this is the threshold we’re using to determine what is offensive or not offensive, we’re in big trouble. Even a commercial for a U.S. cellphone company featuring Indy Car driver Danica Patrick rates a higher standing on the offending meter and even that is rather benign.

Boy has he got Danica Patrick ads pegged.

See also Kinky Husband and the oh-god-gross Dad & Bride.