Food giant Heinz has today remained defiant in the face of 11,000 people who are calling for the reinstatement of their latest TV ad.

The ad, originally intended to run for 5 weeks, was cut short after only 1 week following complaints from 200 people as to its ‘offensive’ and ‘inappropriate’ nature.

The advert contained a ‘kiss’ between two men in a situation not intended to portray a gay couple.

Since then, an online petition initiated by Report2 has seen over 11,000 signatures in a matter of days, calling upon Heinz to reinstate the advert.

However, Heinz have currently declined to respond to calls from Report2 to reinstate the advert, among numerous attempts to point out the sheer number of people agreeing that the decision was wrong.

Similarly, a Facebook group calling upon consumers to boycott the company until the return of the ad has reached almost 5,000 members in the same length of time.

Since the decision was made, LibDem leader Nick Clegg has issued a statement urging Heinz to reverse their decision, but none of these responses to Heinz have signalled any change.

Meanwhile those fortunate enough to receive a response from Heinz UK did not get quite what they were expecting:

Heinz apologizes for its misplaced attempt at humor and we accept that this ad was not in accordance with our long-standing corporate policy of respecting everyone’s rights and values.

Liz Pickstock, Heinz Consumer Department

An identical apology to the one sent in response to the 200 individuals who originally complained.

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