Gay couple share Cadbury’s Creme Egg in new advert. (YouTube)
A Creme Egg advert starring a real-life gay couple sharing a sticky kiss isn’t going anywhere, despite a ridiculous anti-LGBT+ petition.
Cadbury’s said it’s proud to spread a “message of inclusion” with its Creme Egg advert, which has attracted the ire of more than 25,000 bigots in a new petition.
The petition claims the advert is “selling sex to children” and is causing “gratuitous offence to members of the Christian community” around Easter.
“Given that children often copy what they see on screen, the advert constitutes a form of grooming, exposing children to inappropriate and graphic sexual content,” it bizarrely claims.
“Cadbury’s are clearly hoping to cause controversy and escape criticism by claiming that any objections must be rooted in homophobia“. It claims that “members of the LGBT community have also expressed their dislike of this campaign”, and says that “if the couple in question were heterosexual, the advertisement would likely be prohibited, given the sexually explicit and graphic nature of the kiss”.
In response, Cadbury’s released a statement to Premier Christian News.
“Cadbury’s has always been a progressive brand that spreads a message of inclusion, whether it is through its products or brand campaigns,” a spokesperson said.
“We are proud of our Golden Goobilee advert which celebrates the many ways that everyone can enjoy a Cadbury Creme Egg.
“To illustrate this and showcase the joy our products bring, a clip of a real life couple sharing a Cadbury Creme Egg was included in the advert.”
One-half of the couple, Callum Sterling, previously responded to the backlash in an Instagram post, hitting back at people who are uncomfortable with the fact that same-sex couples kiss and maybe share a Creme Egg.
He wrote: “So it’s OK when an advert sexualises a woman… to benefit the male gaze and make other women feel inadequate if they do not live up to this beauty standard.
“But it’s not OK, in 2021, to have an advert of a multi-racial (strike one) gay couple (strike two) on your screens for 10 seconds (strike three) eating/kissing/sexualised (strike four). Does anyone see how ridiculous this is? Like actual LOL.”
He added: “I’m so so happy that [Dale, his boyfriend and co-star] and I ended up being the faces for this moment as I’ve been in the dance industry for 11 years full time and let me tell you, THAT, alongside living in London as well as being an out queer and proud human is enough to make my skin so thick that I genuinely don’t feel once ounce of hurt from any negative comments being put out into the world as a result of the advert with @cadburyuk that we shot a few weeks ago.
“I’m super happy this has all happened. The love we have received totally outweighs the fear-based negative comments. Makes me proud to live in the UK and to have so much love in my life.”