This post is part of our Ads Gone Bad series. Share your thoughts and memories of this ad in the comments, and be sure to check out our other posts on marketing gone wrong.

Mars Inc., has made not just one, but two ad campaigns for its popular Snickers bar seem to sneer at gays. Mars, one of the biggest privately held, family-owned companies, makes many of the world's most popular candies: Snickers, M&Ms, Twix, Starburst (along with Uncle Ben's Rice and pet food like Whiskas), but both of the ads gay rights groups found offensive were for the Snickers bar.

The first gay-themed Snickers ad made a big splash in Super Bowl XLI in 2007. Two mechanics get so wrapped up in eating the opposite ends of Snickers bar that their lips touch, prompting them to decide to "do something manly" lest they accidentally catch gayness -- so they pull their chest hair out.

A robot working at General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) makes a mistake, gets fired and commits suicide. No, wait, the robot wakes up and realizes it was only having a bad dream. Not funny, says the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Like the Snickers male-on-male kissing ad that I blogged about Tuesday, the GM robot committing suicide ad is getting a lot of negative criticism. Unlike the Snickers ad, which was pulled by the Mars company after the negative feedback, General Motors says it has "no plans" to drop the spot and plans on airing it again during the Feb. 25 Academy Awards broadcast.

To me, the only thing worse than having an ad that is received so poorly is not having the good sense to pull it fast enough. GM likely spent over $2 million for the backlash they are facing now -- including former Energy secretary Donald Hodel saying that anyone who loses someone to suicide in the near future should consider suing GM. So why exactly would GM pay more to put this same ad on the Oscar stage?

Looking at this another way, I think this sort of thing is likely to drive down the price of advertising at the Super Bowl, which is often criticized as being a waste of money for larger, established corporations.

"Quick, do something manly!" one of the actors in the Snickers ad exclaimed, after kissing his male counterpart.

Too late. The male-kissing-male ad, which was featured during Super Bowl XLI on Sunday, will not air again after complaints from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Human Rights Campaign.

Maybe it was the wrong tactic -- this year's Super Bowl was kicked off by Cirque de Soleil and featured Prince at half time. Maybe they should have gone for a more metrosexual look. After all, a Chevrolet ad featuring topless men (including the Naked Cowboy) was one of the more highly rated ads of this year's Super Bowl.

But personally, if I had to choose an ad not to see again, it would be the General Motors (NYSE: GM) ad with the robot worker committing suicide. Did it not occur to the company, which is in the process of major downsizing, that that ad may just hit a little too close to home?

Eric Buscemi is an editor at Theflyonthewall.com.