Video: The obligatory "Heinz's gay ad" clip

I’ve given up trying to predict what will offend people. I hadn’t seen this until today but from the bits and pieces of news stories I’d read and the fact that they got hundreds of complaints about it in Britain, I figured it was explicit. As it is, not only didn’t it air during kids’ shows, it barely qualifies as “gay”: The guy in the hat is supposed to be a woman whose magical Heinz-powered sandwich-making kung fu has transformed her spiritually into a burly New York deli owner. It’s about as racy as an episode of Three’s Company. But the fear of protests demanded that it be yanked, and yanked it was — which triggered a counterprotest with support all the way up to the halls of Parliament. What’s a condiment company to do? No word yet, but the UK being the UK, it’s bound to end up as a hate crime either way.