Problem behind adolescent, unfunny ads is about maturity rather than political correctness.

On 7/21/08 Bob Garfield of Ad Age posted an open letter to Omnicom President/CEO John Wren, telling him that three of his agencies - BBDO, TBWA and AMV BBDO, have produced homophobic TV spots, and that it's time for him to intervene.

Before going further , here are the three spots to which Mr. Garfield refers...

BBDO, Detroit, 2006, the spot for the subcompact Dodge Caliber (in his story, Bob refers to the vehicle as the 'macho subcompact' Caliber. Bob, I can assure you that thing doesn't have an ounce of 'macho' in it) It featured a burly tough guy snorting the words "silly little fairy" at a Tinkerbell-like pixie, only to be magic-wanded into a mincing, sweater-draped girly man.

TBWA, New York, 2007, the Snickers Super Bowl ad: two auto mechanics, chewing on opposite ends of a candy bar till meeting in an accidental kiss.

AMV BBDO, London, another Snickers spot, in which a butt-wiggling race walker is just too effeminate for Mr. T's liking, so Mr. T chases after the guy in a pickup and the terrorized wimp is mowed down with a candy-spewing Gatling gun and admonished to "Get some nuts!"

Okay, so now let's consider Garfield's charge of homophobia. He accuses Mr. Wren of being insensitive, shallow, mean. He wants the "dehumanizing stereotypes" and cruelty to stop. The article has yielded 88 comments so far, most of them blabbing on about whether Garfield wants the ad business to go down the PC highway.

I say the issue isn't whether spots like these are too politically incorrect. No, I say they are the unfortunate byproduct of an industry that has let it's standards slip. The real problem here is a lack of maturity on the part of the young creative geniuses who spew this stuff out. Now I'm the first to acknowledge that advertising targeted to young audiences for products that are consumed by young people is perhaps best developed by people who understand the younger demographics. Trouble is, the creatives who come up with this stuff, and presumably the account types who pitch it to the clients, just haven’t grown up yet. Apparently their sensibilites are barely above 15-year-old boys at summer camp. And I don't think creativity has to be sacrificed a bit when maturity is brought to the process.

My open letter to John Wren would say something like this: Unless your clients are specifically targeting 15-year-old boys at summer camp, Mr. Wren, I suggest you do some house cleaning. And Bob, once again you've done a great service to the industry by pointing out the stupidity of this kind of advertising. I think the clients at Chrysler and Mars Inc. who manage the Dodge and Snickers brands should be ashamed of themselves, and why not pen an open letter to them? It's not about political correctness, it's about maturity.