The Soup Wars: Campbell’s Targets $650 Billion GLBT Community

A recent ad placement in The Advocate, a national gay and lesbian news magazine, has put Campbell’s Soup toe to toe with the American Family Association. The print piece shows a lesbian couple and their young son hovering over a box of Swanson’s broth &#151 and being that the AFA is pretty anti-all-things-pro-homosexuality, they’ve taken issue with the ads.

To us, the executions are fairly innocuous, and considering TA’s position we wonder if the AFA isn’t just whining for the sake of hearing its own cold, steely voice.

Remember how Campbell’s was having it out with Progresso? Could this be part of their bid to take the lead in the so-called Soup Wars? Click the link you just skipped over to see a hilarious video on the subject. And click continued to see the entire set of ads.

The AFA recently said the following on their Web site, in an article entitled, “M’m! M’m! Bad! &#151 Campbell Soup Company embraces homosexual agenda,”:

“Campbell Soup Company has openly begun helping homosexual activists push their agenda. Not only did the ads cost Campbell’s a chunk of money, but they also sent a message that homosexual parents constitute a family and are worthy of support. They also gave their approval to the entire homosexual agenda.

In defense of the ads, three of which included New York City chefs, a Campbell’s rep. told Slog, “We support all types of families, regardless of how they’re defined, [and have done so] for more than 100 years. We advertise in a variety of different media outlets that appeal to a broad spectrum of society. That’s what we’re doing here, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

Another company rep. told AdAge, “The LGBT audience is the third-largest in the country behind African-Americans and Hispanics,” said Ms. Graham. “And we’re very in tune with which brands embrace the community and whose messaging and imaging reflects that.”

The AFA is urging supporters to contact Campbell’s president Douglas Conant. Based on the statements above, sounds like Campbell’s probably won’t be changing their minds.

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More: “Question: Who Is Serving The GLBT Demo?”

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