Around midnight EST tomorrow, those within view of a television will watch a giant glowing ball shimmy slowly down a pole, ushering in 2012 AD (CE if you want to get weird about it). Some will cheer, some will toast, some will mumble made-up lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne,” and many will grab a significant other or stranger and engage them in a full-on lip-lock. Each of these, the last especially, is unavoidable. Why? Because it is tradition, so deal with it.
So, what better time for gay social network site Manhunt to drum up some publicity by placing the above billboard in Times Square? Located at the corner of Broadway and 47th Street, Manhunt’s billboard, which will be up through Jan. 6, was described to us in an email as “raising some eyebrows” and featuring “two sweaty guys in dog tags about to make out.” In the days since the “Zero Feet Away” campaign rolled out, it’s already greatly offended one L.A. mom, despite the fact that a similar Michael Kors billboard (depicting a woman placing her hand inside a man’s briefs) has been the subject of no such controversy. Most curiously will be how much (if any) airtime the Manhunt ad gets during the broadcast of ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” where the American public will be subjected to performances by Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and (new mother?) Beyonce.
Thanks for tuning in this year, spies, and let’s look forward to these final few months as we plunge headlong into the Apocalypse. Have an awesome New Year’s Eve, click here for the actual lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne,” and watch Mariah Carey do whatever it is she does below.