Wrigley’s gum released a sweet lesbian ad. Then hundreds of people filed official complaints.

A commercial for chewing gum featuring two women kissing was the third most complained about ad of 2023 in Australia, according to advertising regulator Ad Standards.

The 20-second ad for Wrigley’s Extra shows two young women sitting in a car listening to Carly Rae Jepson’s hit “Call Me Maybe.” They each pop a piece of gum into their mouths, then lean in to kiss each other.

Related:

One Million Moms says 30-second ad with gay couple promotes “sexual perversion”

The ad shows a same-sex couple onscreen for a whopping 8 seconds. OMM says the ad is “blatantly throwing homosexuality in the viewer’s face.”

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Earlier this week, Ad Standards released its list of the top five ads about which it received the most complaints this year. The Extra spot came in at number three with 126 complaints.

A sampling of the complaints received about the ad included in the regulator’s case report revealed that people not only objected to its depiction of a same-sex kiss, but some also perceived the kiss to be nonconsensual or overtly sexual.

“One female suddenly and aggressively grabs the other girl suddenly and kisses her. There was no consent before this happened,” one complaint read. “Lesbians also suffer from violence and domestic violence and this advertisement appears to promote aggressive kissing without cosent [sic].”

“My children should not be exposed to 2 women kissing on a Saturday morning on free to air TV,” another person wrote. “I should choose when to tell my children about same sex relationships it shouldn’t be forced on to them by commercial TV.”

Another wrote that they were “so sick of seeing same sex relationships being promoted as the norm in public media… please clean it up,”

“Two women passionately kissing on a TV commercial is not acceptable. People are watching a PG show with their family and do not expect to be confronted with lovemaking on an advertisement,” another complaint read.

“The add [sic] has sexual references. It’s a chewing gum add [sic] depicting references that are sexually oriented,” yet another person complained. “The program during which the add us shown is a child’s show: Lego Masters. Gum is a child oriented product: sweets. The ad is inappropriate for young viewers.”

In its lengthy response to the complaints, Extra parent company Mars Wrigley wrote that the idea behind its “Do what makes you ding” campaign was “to show that confidence is embracing yourself and the things that you love.”

“At Extra and Mars Wrigley, we believe all people are equal,” the company wrote. “We celebrate diversity and what make us all truly unique. While we understand not everyone shares the same views as us, we do believe we have an opportunity to use our platform to celebrate and champion inclusivity and diversity through our advertising and brand campaigns.”

It noted that it purposefully included a same-sex couple in the ad “in an effort to ensure its messaging is inclusive to all sections of the community, in this instance focusing on sexuality. We believe that the Advertisement demonstrates Mars Wrigley’s commitment to inclusivity.”

The company dismissed charges that the ad depicted a nonconsensual kiss: “Unfortunately, the complaint filer has not accurately recalled the Advertisement and has included a narrative of his/her own.”

Ad Standards dismissed all complaints about the ad.