Gay Model Defends His Same-Sex Kiss in Cadbury Ad

London-based model and dancer Callum Sterling took to Instagram to defend his recent appearance in Cadbury U.K.’s advertisement for their Creme Egg.

The advertisement, which was originally posted on January 4, features people consuming their Creme Eggs in unique ways such as licking, baking, and sharing them. Callum Sterling and his real life partner Dale K Moran show up as “sharers” and are seen holding the same creme egg between their mouths, biting down and separating, as the sweet creme bursts forth from its chocolate vessel.

The depiction of same-gender couples will always bring out bigots online, but Callum Sterling is having none of it. In his impassioned post on Instagram he lambasts those who have criticized the advertisement for being too sexual. Posted alongside a video of a Maybelline advertisement from the 1980s featuring Lynda Carter, Sterling points out the hypocrisy of opposing the sexual content in the Cadbury ad.

“So it’s ok when an advert sexualises a women, a caucasian women, THIRTY SEVEN years ago even, to benefit the male gaze and make other women feel inadequate if they do not live up to this beauty standard. But it’s not okay, in 2021, to have an advert of a multi racial (strike one) gay couple (strike two) on your screens for 10 seconds (strike three) eating/kissing/sexualised (strike four)” Sterling writes.

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A post shared by C A L L U M. S T E R L I N G (@callumsterling)

The post specifically calls out those who might start a statement with the eye-rolling disclaimer “I’m not homophobic, but …” which refers to critics of the ad such as Twitter user Phillip Hall.

I am not Homophobic but I just think the New Cadbury Egg advert to be shown on ITV is totally unnecessary. Showing two men passionately enjoying a Cream egg that Children love to eat will only confuse children as such a young age. Why?? pic.twitter.com/b7dZ5WTGQa

— Philip Hall (@PhilipH21343285) January 10, 2021

Although there are a dispiriting amount of negative comments about the advertisement, something Cadbury anticipated by disabling comments for it on Youtube, many Twitter users poked fun at those who objected to the depiction. Some have been quick to point out that chocolate advertisements have used sexual imagery for decades, like in this post from Danielle Roe.

But it’s ok to have a women deep throat a flake simulating fellatio … are the straights alright?
A Cadbury Cream Egg will not ‘make you gay’, that’s not in our Gay Agenda™️ handbook … we actually use a mixture of Galaxy & Milkybar to brainwash straight people Phillip pic.twitter.com/I6w0Ph2dAT
— Danielle Roe ️‍ (@DJROE95) January 10, 2021

Written with confidence and humor, Sterling’s full post is a great read. At one point, he calls his haters “as hypocritical and uneducated and bizzare as Donald trump.” It’s great to see someone passionately defend their project and make the case for why this type of depiction is important.

Though it might seem to some that this advertisement is guilty of both virtue signaling and gay baiting, at the end of the day, it is a mainstream ad that depicts same-gender love, which remains all all-too-rare in media.

Rather than merely implying a same-gender relationship or claiming a woke trophy for depicting a gay kiss in the background of a scene featuring dozens of extras (looking at you, Disney), the ad features a close-up of the two men with lips touching and smiles on their faces. To me, it’s not even a sexual moment; it is an intimate one, and I’m all for it.