Director Mark Nickelsburg said the commercial was a “spec spot,” which are produced commercials used as a resume builder commercial directors can take to potential clients.
“It’s basically to show clients what we are capable of,” he said. “It just sort of snowballed from there.”
Nickleburg posted his ad on Facebook Tuesday and it went viral as thousands of news outlets online wrote it.
The video has similarities to the issue of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to any couples to avoid issuing them to same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs. Davis was jailed for nearly a week by a federal judge for failing to comply with the law.
Nickelsburg’s ad features two men about to get married, and when they approach the church they are stopped by a woman who proclaims she won’t allow them to “blemish the sanctity of marriage.”
Before the men can give them a piece of their minds, the woman pulls out a Tide stain stick to remove a stain on one of the grooms’ shirts. She then wishes them well as they pass by her.
Nickelsburg wrote on his Facebook page: “First a clerk in Kentucky, and now a church lady in Los Angeles! This same-sex couple faces yet another obstacle on the way to marriage equality in this spot I directed for Tide to Go.”
P&G had released a Tide ad in Canada that featured a gay couple arguing about laundry. The Cincinnati-based P&G also supported gay marriage via its official Twitter account over the summer, tweeting support for LGBT rights.