Allow me to preface by saying I’ve been a huge (sometimes unjustifiably so) fan of the Mr. T/Get Some Nuts campaign ever since the “Tank” spot dropped last year. I think the combination of Mr. T and the insanity of it all had something special going for it… so much so that I even have some of the “Get Some Nuts Ringtones” on my cell that were at one point downloadable off the site.

So with that, I woke up to news that Mars has pulled the latest Get Some Nuts ad, just recently discussed here at Beyond Madison Avenue. An Adweek article quoted the Mars-released statement:

This ad is the second in a series of U.K. Snickers Ads featuring Mr. T which are meant to be fun and which have been positively received in the U.K. However, we understand that humor is highly subjective, and it is never our intention to cause offense. Accordingly, we have pulled the Mr. T speed walker ad globally.”

I’m all for political correctness, and wound never advocate anything defamatory or even borderline homophobic, but I have to ask if Mr. T driving a mini-tank launching tennis balls is really where the attention should be payed. I suppose it’s not really my decision, and given the recent controversy with the Snickers Superbowl XLI spot that got pulled, I suppose it’s better to be on the safe side. It just makes me sad to see the inherent creativity of the over-the-top-brilliance of Mr. T yelling “Get Some Nuts” squelched.

Doctor Rose is a freelance photographer/designer/writer based out of Portland, OR. He regularly shares his Northwest-biased musings on the advertising and marketing world at Talent Zoo’s Beyond Madison Avenue.Questions/comments/solicitations can be directed to daviddoctorrose@gmail.com

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