Goodbye to the silly little fairy

It is/was a cute little ad for Dodge Caliber (not real effective because I would have sworn it was a Charger commercial) - a little Tinkerbell-type character flies around changing a skyscraper into a gingerbread castle, an elevated train into a fairy-tale choo choo, but her magic can't seem to convert the tough little Dodge into something whimsical.

She gets so distracted in her frustration that she doesn't notice she's about to fly - splat! - into that wall. A stereotype biker-type walking his Doberman comes along and says, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Silly little fairy," and in a fit of pique she converts him into a preppy guy walking four yippy dogs on pink leashes.

The ad is still running but with a little edit job. Now the biker comes along and says, "Ha! Ha! Ha!" before being transformed. I guess there are some words you just don't use in these sensitive times, even to describe, say, a silly little fairy.

Here's one of the more breathless over-reactions to the ad, titled "Is this Dodge 'fairy' commercial actually hate speech in disguise?" The good news is I'm told (my computer timed out trying to get in) many of the gays who commented on Bob Garfield's column say, in effect, "Gimme a break and take a deep breath," but Dodge seems to have responded to the criticism and removed the offending line.

To his credit, Garfield merely points out what he considers offensive speech and shames Dodge for using it. He doesn't suggest that the U.S. Department of Hate Speech ban the ad or some such. It's simply a case of Dodge exercising its free speech rights, Garfield and other exercising theirs, and Dodge making a corporate decision based on the exchange. That's how it's supposed to work, more or less. I do have to wonder what the next step would have been if Dodge had not altered the ad.

And it's still a cute, visually appealing ad. But the missing dialogue, with all its implications, sure takes away some of the whimsy.