今日吃瓜

A from meal-delivery company HelloFresh has riled up all the . It’s both incredibly funny and a sobering reminder of how even innocuous jokes can be drafted into the culture war against homosexuality.

The post, shared on Instagram in early June, referenced high-fibre meals in relation to customers who were 鈥減repping鈥� during Pride Month, as a cheeky nod to bottoming.

鈥淲e know eating isn鈥檛 always a top priority this month. We respect that. But for those of you who are 鈥� prepping 鈥� we have an extensive lineup of high-fiber recipes available. Happy Pride.鈥�

High fibre prepping for bottoming is simply a day-to-day reality for many gay men who enjoy the exquisite practice of anal sex, so this little reference isn’t only a way to engage the gay market, but also a way to show they’ve hired at least one gay man.

The post was later re-shared shared alongside a promotional discount code “BOTTOMSUP” that was suggested by a commenter on Instagram. As far as Pride Month marketing goes, this is both innocuous and effective – most people were having fun with it, and the company capitalised on that in a seemingly genuine way (by getting even more in on the joke).

You know things are bad when I’m out here defending rainbow capitalism, but here we are. I never thought I’d die fighting side by side with HelloFresh – but what about fighting side by side with a friend?

 

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While most people get that it’s a joke, even if they don’t find it funny, many were shocked that a brand used this reference.

鈥淚 thought there was no way this was real鈥� it had to be parody鈥� so I looked it up myself. It’s real,” wrote one early viral post on Twitter from an anti-trans account.

“It鈥檚 real. HelloFresh are advertising their product as being good for clearing out your rectum in preparation for anal s*x during Pride Month. I鈥檓 so done with this timeline.”

And?

Very quickly, prudes and scolds on all sides of politics got involved. Another X user wrote: 鈥淚 know what they鈥檙e getting at but this is still a WILD thing to say when groceries are at an all-time high and people are being forced to starve.鈥�

We all have to eat, but it doesn’t always have to be food.

But the post very quickly became dominated by a conservative backlash, with even posting about the “crude” joke. described it as a “stomach-churning Pride ad” which almost sounds like they’re getting in on the joke, except it’s The Spectator.聽It was also shared by right-wing harassment and doxxing account Libs Of TikTok, which explains why it received backlash in conservative corners of the internet.

Another anti-trans account , managing to weave a very interesting pick-me narrative about how this ad will singlehandedly destroy gay rights by making gay men sound sex-obsessed.

“If you wanted to design an advertisement that would make ordinary people roll their eyes and think Pride is ridiculous, or shield their children’s eyes in horror, you would struggle to do better than this.”

You have to wonder why this hypothetical child is so well-versed in the mechanics of bottoming?

ugh…why do brands let children run their social media feeds?

鈥� Robert Jessel (@robjessel16)

“Ready for one of the most disturbing marketing campaigns you鈥檝e ever seen? wants you to know that they have food for you to prepare your colon for receiving anal sex during Pride Month. Yes, this is real. No sane person should use this insane company,”

While commenters and media called for HelloFresh to take down the ad and apologise (the brand has done neither), rival company cheekily responded with their own, more sapphic ad, which only escalated things into a storm of pearl clutching.

 

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While this is all quite fun, there’s a more sinister side of things – not only are these conservatives deliberately using this ad to equate homosexuality with degeneracy (an ancient tactic), but they’re trying to make it un-lucrative for a brand to publicly support the LGBTQIA+ community, which is their ultimate goal.