Kit Kat's 'Silence Your Hunger' Ad Campaign: Is Dubai Commercial Offensive?

After watching chocolate mega-corporation Nestlé's new commercial for Kit Kat Chunky bars, which airs exclusively in Dubai, we couldn't help thinking one thing: Is poking fun at dwarfs suddenly acceptable again?

The spot, produced by agency JWT's Dubai office, is part of a larger campaign titled "Silence Your Hunger." In the ad, a dwarf is made to appear like the title character's mini self -- he's the "hunger" in the "Silence Your Hunger" equation. It ends with the little person being squashed (presumably, to death) by a giant Kit Kat Chunky chocolate bar.

Is this funny? We're not so sure. The commercial certainly seems to be playing on long-accepted stereotypes of dwarfs as comic relief, which are rampant especially in television and film. Actor Peter Dinklage, star of HBO's "Game of Thrones," has been vocal in his battles against roles that typecast him as such.

Earlier this year, Dinklage told NPR that for a dwarf, scripts are filled with reminders of it. "Every single page, almost every single line, is geared towards your height," Dinklage explained. "In my day-to-day life, in any person who is my size's day-to-day life, it happens, but it's not a constant."

At any rate, one thing is certain: Dubai loves its Kit Kat bars. In 2010, Nestlé opened a $136 million manufacturing facility in the city, with the aim of it supplying the entire Middle East with its products. That year in a company release, Yves Manghardt, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé Middle East said that the factory, the first built by the company in more than 10 years, was on track to become the third largest Kit Kat plant in the world. Nestlé has had a presence in the Middle East for more than 75 years.

Watch the "Silence Your Hunger" commercial below, and let us know what you think about it.