Offensive Legal Sea Foods Ads Finally Offend

This fall Legal Sea Foods debuted an ad series including a Brokeback Mountain reference and a "Jesus fish" symbol with "Legal" written where the word "Jesus" frequently appears. At the time, Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz told the Globe "I'm not really trying to offend anybody." Well, he did. EDGE Boston reports on how the local gay community feels about these ads and others from 2009, which included the word "Cocklegobbler" and told the story of a fisherman who "got so drunk that he went home and swabbed his First Mate's deck...if you know what I mean." According to the EDGE, calls and emails to the company and its ad agency were not responded to, and the company refused to apologize to one Bostonian who took offense to the ads and was told that "they were intended to be a joke."

· Restaurant chain criticized for ads perceived as anti-gay [EDGE Boston]
· All coverage of Legal Sea Foods on Eater [~EBOS~]
[Photo: Flickr/grilled cheese]