Aussie Snickers commercial stirs up gender role controversy

An Australian-produced Snickers commercial in which male construction workers shout empowering statements at women passersby instead of sexist catcalls hasn't gone over well with everyone.

Remarks included: "You want to hear a filthy word? Gender bias!" and "You know what I'd like to see? A society in which the objectification of women makes way for gender-neutral interactions, free from assumptions and expectations. You go girl!"

The stunt from Clemenger BBDO in Melbourne did not amuse some - mostly women.

"So wait, men are only respectful and decent human beings when they're 'not being themselves'? Men should eat a snickers to 'be themselves again' so that they can be sexist, ignorant douchebags that harass women? Great, Snickers. This kind of sexist perpetuation of masculinity is just what our world needs," wrote one YouTube commenter.

"If this is the way men act when they're hungry I will never feed them again," said another.

According to Snickers exec Brad Cole, "There were a few nervous moments while we were filming the reactions, but the public took the experiment in the spirit in which it was intended - to charm and amuse them," he told AdWeek. At first the women walking down the street seem confused by the non-catcalls, but then slowly start to appreciate the inspiring and amusing comments.

But the Snickers ad, part of their "You're not you when you're hungry" campaign, drew mostly negative interpretations from viewers.

"By saying blue-collar guys 'aren't themselves' when they're being polite, it pretty clearly implies they're otherwise a bunch of misogynistic boors," AdWeek said.

And as PolicyMic's Elizabeth Plank wrote: "On the one hand, the women in the advertisement are naive props shocked that men would ever treat them with respect. On the other, the men are portrayed as presumably idiotic, disgusting and flat-out predatorial in their natural state. In the world that Snickers Australia envisions, it seems like whether you're a man or a woman, it pretty much sucks to be you."