HEINZ IN GAY KISS CONTROVERSY

You wouldn't have wanted to be in Heinz's press office over the last week or so, now would you?

They create what looks, on the face of it, a pretty inocuous little ad to show how they "get" modern families.

The wee lad and his sister are packed off to work with their sandwiches (full of Heinz Mayo) made by their "mum". However, in this case, "mum" is a bloke because this is a gay family - rather than one that happens to have a New York deli chef working for it.

The punchline is that we only find this out when "dad" appears to wish the "deli chef/mum/dad" person a happy day: at which point deli chef/mum/dad demands his farewell kiss and all is revealed.

The ad prompted 200 complaints to the ASA - largely from parents who found that they "had to explain same-sex relationships to their offspring" as a result of their exposure to the spot.

Sensing a controversy brewing, Heinz pulled the ad.

Sadly, this has only attracted the opprobrium of the gay community, with news sites (there are hundreds of articles taking a similar stance) slamming the brand and online petitions protesting Heinz's change of heart attracting thousands of signatures.

So what does all this tell the PR community, then?

For me, it shows that it you're going to go out on a limb and take some risks, you have GOT to be willing to stick with the line that you're taking.

By and large, people are going to respect you for taking a stance - they are less likely to respect you for backing down on something because it suggests that you admit that a) you were wrong in the first place and b) not willing to hold a position if it compromises your brand "positioning" (if you see the distinction).

In a world where cutting through to punters is harder than ever, brands have got a tough choice between being interesting and creating debate and being a bit dull and sticking to their knitting.

This struck me as a case where, if Heinz had been a bit braver, they might have faced down the media furore, could have fought their corner (they had a strong corner to come out of) and could have won plaudits for doing so. It's a real shame that they decided to stick to their knitting rather than their guns on this one.

Note: Seventy Seven PR is owned by AMV BBDO, who made the ad. We had nothing to do with the campaign, don't work for Heinz and the views expressed are those of the author, not of the agency.