Being banned from Facebook and Instagram sends "honest" bra ad viral

Some ads are made to be "banned." This one, from the Australian division of underwear brand Berlei, pushed the bounds of breast portrayal and was subsequently taken down from the brand's Facebook and Instagram pages for being "offensive."

News.com.au's Angela Mollard writes:

Berlei’s ad is not gratuitous. It’s not sleazy or even sexual. Rather, it’s a fistpump-worthy piece of advertising that addresses women’s body concerns head or, rather, breast on. Yes there’s boobs bouncing under a sports bra and women trying to cover their nipples and prod or poke bits of flesh back into an unsatisfactory garment, but that’s life with breasts.

I'd have to agree, although the ad is certainly provocative in a very deliberate way.

As of this moment (10:30 EDT, Saturday September 9, 2017) the ad has almost 225,000 views on YouTube. Expect to see many more as the earned media does its job.

Are people interested in this ad because it's about breasts? Of course! Is that a problem? Perhaps to some prudish American social media moguls. But it seems pretty feminist to me.

If you have any thoughts on the ad, please feel free to comment. I'll be ramping up this blog again over the next few weeks, so expect to see more posts. Let's talk about ethics in advertising!

The most beautiful censorship you will ever see

Dorkly shared this made-for-viral video for BUYMA, a Japanese fashion brand.

According to Spoon & Tomago, it was created by Dentsu and creative director Takashi Sakuma. It was aired on Japanese television only once, on December 13, 2015.

The beauty of the human body in movement meets the choreography of drones. You've got to admit: It's pretty cool. Just watch out for those blades!

Ads about periods too much for MTA

I don't really like these ads much, but I don't see anything offensive about them. The media agency for Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYC) however, has issues with the imagery, and even the word "period." (MTA itself was not involved in the decision.)

From mic.com:

According to Veronica del Rosario, Thinx's director of marketing, the representative was concerned that children would see the word "period" in the ad and ask their parents what it meant. When Thinx later submitted the ad with the word "period" in the copy, the agency told them they could not run the copy "as is." 

"I stated [to an Outfront rep] that it was extremely disheartening that [certain other ads] could fly, but something for women that speaks directly to women isn't OK by them," del Rosario told Mic. "He replied, 'This is not a women's issue. Don't try to make it a women's rights thing.'"

Apparently, they were also concerned with the amount of skin showing in the Thinx ads, as well as the  cheeky use of a grapefruit and the contents of an egg.

MTA has run some rather obnoxious breast augmentation ads before, but apparently children are going to be more traumatized by being reminded of the very organs that made them.

Kenyan condom ad pulled for referencing extramarital sex

This ad is entirely in Swahili, but if you look up the term "Mpango Wa Kando" you can get the gist of the story: Two women in the market discuss one of them having an affair with a man. The woman tells her friend, the "adultress" that she should use a condom to protect herself and their families from sexually transmitted infections (HIV in particular).

From the YouTube comments:

The “Weka Condom Mpangoni” advert which features two women who openly admit something we fight to put under the carpet that yes there are married women with mpango wa Kando. 

“One of the ladies inquires about the other’s husband and then immediately seeks to find out how her mpango wa kando is doing. The first lady then goes ahead to explain that even though her husband may be away, that does not mean that she miss out on “fun” since the other guy is readily available to provide it. The second lady then counsels her to always use condom whenever she’s having “fun” with her mpango wa kando”.

The Anglican Church and the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya protested the ad, claiming it was promoting promiscuity and infidelity rather than preventing HIV, and Kenya's Ministry of Public Health cancelled the ad's TV broadcast.

In response, columnist Lucy Maroncha wrote:

Had the clergy not interfered with it, the message would have reached millions of Kenyans and would have benefited even the youth and people already living with HIV.
Whether you are married or not, using condoms in Kenya is challenging for most people as it carries the weight of stigma and many shy from buying them from shops. 

Gladys (name changed) a married woman who admits having an extra marital affair tells me that sometimes she and her lover opt to have unprotected sex for fear of stigma in the community if anyone saw them buying condoms. "With or without the advert, thousands of married people have extra marital affairs and the clergy should not bury their heads in the sand. They should team up with the government to promote the prevention campaign," she asserts.

Kenya is the 4th most HIV/AIDS-affected nation in the world, with at least 100,000 new infections in Kenya annually. But heaven forbid we talk about safer sex, even outside of marriage. 

Theatrical ad banned from London Underground over bare man bum

My Night With Reg is a 1994 play about gay men in London during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. This poster, for the current revival revived at the Donmar Warehouse (and now the Apollo Theatre) was rejected by Transport for London for "male nudity," according to Pink News.

The poster, with a nude man holding the best rock album ever recorded, is a direct adaptation of the first edition cover of its book version.

In the past, Transport for London has been the subject of ridicule for its prudish advertising standards, once banning a poster for an exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts for showing a 16th century female nude by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

G20 climate change ads rejected by Australian airport #onmyagenda

A billboard that was supposed to greet G20 leaders as they arrived for their next meeting in Brisbane, Australia, has been rejected by the airport authority.

The Guardian reports that the ad, featuring a farmer whose vineyard was destroyed by extreme high temperatures, was turned down because climate change was deemed "too political" for posting inside the airport.

A related article notes that the Australian government was reluctant to but climate change on the G20 meeting agenda, but reluctantly did so only after pressure from the United States and the European Union.

The rejection is a bit of a scandal, too, as it was revealed that two directors on the board of Brisbane Airport Corporation have interests in fossil fuel companies. (The BAC says they had no influence on the decision.)

Australia has been particularly hard hit by rising global temperatures, but Australian PM Tony Abbott has been accused of being a climate change skeptic. So perhaps this issue is "political" insofar as politicians are making it so.

Another billboard will be erected on the road to the G20 meeting. It features firefighter Dean McNulty against a backdrop of damage representative of the increasingly common bush fires in drought-ravaged areas of Australia.

The #onmyagenda campaign is a partnership between Oxfam, Greenpeace, 350.0rg, WWF, Earth Hour, GetUp, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and 1 Million Women.

PornHub's "SFW" billboard removed from Times Square

PornHub, the internet sexual content provider recently known for dabbling in music, managed to score an earned media hit by getting their new billboard forcibly removed from Times Square, NYC, within 24 hours.

Gothamist writes, "though an advertisement for a porn site would have fit in on 42nd Street a mere 20 or so years ago, the city's long since swapped out the peep shows for a Ripley's Believe It Or Not, and sadly, Pornhub's billboard was removed only hours after its first appearance. We can't have anything fun anymore."

Apparently, a neighbouring hotel managed to get the billboard yanked (so to speak).

Seems like a silly controversy to me, considering competing porn site Brazzers had a rather saucy "get rubber" billboard up there four years ago, complete with sexualized models.

You could say that the PornHub billboard was promoting even safer sex... at least for the viewer.

Facebook banned a sexual health org. over this very boring female condom ad

The Daily Dot reports that Tea Time and Sex Chats, a sexual health organization at the University of Chicago, had their page pulled after Facebook received a complaint about this animated video for Fc2 female condoms.



The video itself is a snorefest overall — poorly paced and way too long. But the offending scene, I must assume, is at 2:48 when the cartoon woman demonstrates how to open her vulva to insert the prophylactic.

The Dot says that the ban happened after Tea Time and Sex Chats complied with the takedown notice, and they have appealed.

Facebook's community standard on nudity states:

Facebook has a strict policy against the sharing of pornographic content and any explicitly sexual content where a minor is involved. We also impose limitations on the display of nudity. We aspire to respect people’s right to share content of personal importance, whether those are photos of a sculpture like Michelangelo's David or family photos of a child breastfeeding.

But what about health and education? These exceptions are not mentioned, which is a shame because "anti-porn" regulations have long been used to prevent healthy sexuality and safer sex information from reaching the public.

Dumb e-cig ad is a throwback to a more racist era

This ad, from Belfast, is kind of shocking in its cluelessness. Taboo love between a mature white woman and a young black man! The scandal!

Fortunately, according to campaign, the Northern Irish didn't like it much either. The Advertising Standards Authority received several complaints, and ruled that "consumers viewing the ad would believe it was presenting a relationship between an older and younger individual, particularly an older woman and a younger man, and a couple of different races, as something that was unusual or socially unacceptable."

The ad has been ordered removed, which is always a touchy subject. I far prefer when brands willingly remove ads because it's in their best interests not to piss off customers by pretending it's still the 1950s.

Van rental company makes sexist jokes part of its marketing plan

Via ABC

An Australian company that calls itself "Wicked Campers" has pissed off thousands of people with its on-vehicle slogans, prompting a massive online petition and complaints to regulators.

The campaign was led by Paula Orbea, who reacted after her 11-year-old daughter told her about the "little slut" slogan she had seen on a Wicked Campers van.

From Change.org:

It is inconceivable that Wicked Campers choose to not only write the misogynistic 'joke' but also then publicise it through their moving, billboard vans.  

Disgustingly they have also promoted that, 'Fat girls are harder to kidnap.' 

Shame on them. 

Adult females are also degraded into sexual objectification and disrespect - with slogans on show for people of all ages to indiscriminately see and absorb:  

'A wife: An attachement you screw on the bed to get the housework done.''A blowjob is a great last minute gift!''I wouldn't trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn't die!' 

Racism has also played a part with slogans such as:'Save the whales, harpoon a Jap.'

The company, which markets mostly to young backpackers, has gotten in trouble with Australia's Advertising Standards Board before. Many, many times. But according to Marketing Mag, they have failed to respond to any rulings, whether for or against, since mid-2010.

This time, however, the company seems to have rolled over, and Ms. Orbea declared victory:

Wicked Campers have apologised, and committed to removing all misogynistic slogans from their vans within six months. Nothing has shifted them in the past. Complaints. Fines. But after initially responding to the petition saying they "didn't care about the uproar" – after your massive support for my petition, they've apologised and will re-spray the offensive, sexist vans.

Climate pseudoscience is OK for Calgary billboards, anti-oil ads not so much

Via Huffpo

You've probably seen this message, either outdoors, online, or in print. It's a clever line used by Greenpeace to promote solar energy over oil.

Their latest media plan had it going up two years ago in Calgary, close to the Alberta legislature, in the wake of the Plains Midstream Canada oil spills. (The company was just fined $1.3 million after pleading guilty in two pipeline spills that sent almost five million litres of oil into Alberta rivers.)

Greenpeace said it arranged with Pattison Outdoor on June 13, 2012, to place the billboard for a month at a cost of $2,800. Two days later, Greenpeace was told the artwork had not been approved. They were not given an explanation.

Fast forward to 2014, and here is the kind of billboard that is running in Calgary:

Via Huffpo

"Friends of Science" is an ironically named Canadian organization that denies any human involvement in climate change.

According to NASA, 97% of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities.

"Friends" is funded anonymously through an intermediary, the Calgary Foundation, although it is accused of being an organ of the petrochemical industry.

Pattison will not comment why the Greenpeace ad was unacceptable to their advertising standards, and the FoS one was, leaving us to form our own conclusions about who is calling the shots in Calgary outdoor media.

Thanks to Kerry for the tip!

Sexy advertising gets clever for fashion app

As much as I complain about sex in advertising, it's not because I'm "anti-sex." What I am is anti-contributing-to-women-being-commoditized and anti-lazy-creative.

This ad, for a fashion shopping app, is pretty tasteful in its sexualization of both male and female models, and the insight is pretty clever. Using the pixelization we're used to seeing on the naughty bits, it tells us that it's the clothes that their customers really get off on:



It was actually kind of refreshing for a sexy ad, wasn't it?

Via Ads Of The World

That's some f#cking bold pizza branding... #PizzaChingona

As ad controversies go, this one's pretty harmless. The Laredo Sun reports that Dallas-based pizza chain Pizza Patrón is upsetting people (and generating massive earned media) by naming their extra-spicy pie after a common Mexican expression — "La Chingona" —  which is politely translated as "the badass".

Those of you with even a passing knowledge of Mexican Spanish slang will, however, note that  "chingo"and its derivatives tend to be used as a Hispanic version of "fuck". The context is not always sexual, however, as in when we say "bad motherfucker". Which might be a more honest translation of this pizza's name, from what I can tell.

Swearing in another language (even in a country like the United States that pretends it's still unilingual) is a risky yet potentially fruitful strategy. On the one hand, older Mexican-Americans could be offended by it, and the FCC could even potentially fine the advertiser. (Which is why Spanish radio stations refuse to air the product ads uncensored.) On the other hand, the youth market could be quite drawn to such badassery.

I'm pretty sure the latter will be the case, and the advertiser isn't budging. Andrew Gamm, brand director for Pizza Patrón, told Pizza Marketplace, "When the Real Academia Española, the world's foremost authority on the Spanish language, defines 'chingón' as a very positive characteristic, it makes us feel confident in our position and in our decision to move forward without apology."

Aldo Quevedo, principal/creative director for Richards/Lerma, says the controversy north of the Mexican border is really a matter of cultural ignorance:

"In Mexico, people make fun of everything: pop culture, international events and even catastrophes. We are used to it and nobody really gets offended. We have thicker skin and there's a reason for that. That's why it's more shocking to me that the name is being censored here in the U.S.," he said. "I understand that the name of the product could be controversial. But really, after you try it you will understand that it's the best descriptor. To me, it's the only name that fits: La Ch!#gona."

"Vaginal" advertising doesn't get much sleazier than this

More than 20 years ago, before I got my first agency job, I recall having a decidedly non-sober discussion with my friends about sex in advertising: "If things keep getting more explicit," I joked, "some day you'll see an ad that just shows a beer coming out of a great big [crude euphemism for a vulva]."

Guess what? It's (sort of) finally happened:

Okay, it's a bar logo rather than an actual beer. But it's just as wrong.

This new low is brought to you by an Australian bar called Mordialloc Supper Club. The obvious plan to get free exposure through bad PR worked without even having to buy any media, as the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation used its licencing authority to ban the image from Mordialloc's web site and Facebook page.

The VCGLR's ruling states, "the promotion is not in the public interest as it objectifies the female body and the commission considers it is likely to offend the ordinary reasonable person" and threatened the bar with a $17,323.20 fine if it didn't remove the image from its digital assets. (It's still archived on their blog, however.)

Yeah, I know. I'm compounding the problem. But I'd rather call out what I see as the worst offences of my industry than just let them fester. This one isn't just conceptually and executionally lazy, it's also pretty offensive to women and the whole idea of childbirth.

IKEA gives in once again to intolerant international markets

Just over a year ago, IKEA Photoshopped adult women out of its Saudi catalogue. Now they've removed an interview with a same-sex couple in the Russian edition of their magazine.

According to The Independent:

The December edition of the furniture giant’s magazine, which is distributed across the world, features an interview with Clara and Kirsty, a Dorset-based lesbian couple, talking about their family life and their Ikea-filled interiors. 

However the lengthy feature has been spiked from the Russian edition of “Ikea Family Live” in case it failed to comply with Russian’s controversial new law banning “homosexual propaganda”. It has been replaced with an article about a single Chinese designer named Chao.

The article cites an IKEA spokesperson confirming that the cxompany was complying with a Russian law benning dissemination of “homosexual propaganda among minors”.

Queerty, in calling out the big bog retailer for complicity in the Russia's "gay purge", suggested the following alternatives for IKEA:

• Leave the lesbians in but don’t identify them as lesbians, since some representation is better than nothing
• Pledge to donate a portion of their Russian revenue to global LGBT civil rights initiatives
• Publicly denounce the clearly unconscionable law
• Troll the homophobes by filling the catalog exclusively with lesbians

They also threw this Italian ad in the store's big yellow and blue face:

"We are open to all families"

Mainstream media claim a boycott is afoot, but I'm not seeing too much noise yet. However, there was one IKEA "kiss-in" in Brooklyn that is rather sweet.

Russian government fines advertiser for the wrong reasons

The ad above says (according to Google Translate) "Keep smiling, even in the most difficult situations!"

Did someone complain that this ancient, dumb, joke is rather racist? No.

Business Insider reports that Russia's Federal Anti-monopoly Service fined the advertiser 100,000 rubles (~$3077 USD) After conducting a poll finding that 38% of Russian citizens were offended by the ad.

From sotav.ru (again, Google Translated):

"The appearance of a typical Russian family of the child with the same skin color as that of the parents, is the accepted norm, and the appearance of light-skinned African-American parents of the child points to marital infidelity on the part of the mother." [This is a quote from the FAS] 

According to the regulator, adultery is abusive behavior, disrupts family foundations in terms of morality and ethics. Advertise casts doubt on family values, is ironic, disregard for the norms of public morality. "The scope of medical services is quite serious, and a similar irony in the advertisement is inappropriate."

That's right, Russian regulators. It's not offensive because it recycles a cliché based on white men's sexual insecurities with perceived black sexual prowess. It's offensive to "family values"...

South African ad puts a white guy in blackface, with predictable results

imeslive.co.za

It was supposed to be a funny concept about air quotes and quality control. But when they put the white guy in blackface for the "African dictator" stereotype, it pretty much guaranteed a bad reaction in post-Apartheid South Africa.



According to Times Live, it only took two complaints of racism to get the South African Advertising Standards Authority to order the Cape Town Fish Market to pull the ad. The ruling stated, "To achieve the desired result of showing a corrupt official, there was no need for the man to be made out to be black."

The Cape Town Fish Market's general manager, Davin Berrill, says the restaurant "never intended to offend anybody," which is a pretty standard non-apology these days.

There is no mention of whether anyone objected to the man dressing as a woman prostitute.

"Drink more water" PSAs banned from local cinema

Two low-budget health department PSAs promoting water drinking have caused unexpected controversy in Ukiah, California:





According to Daily Journal News, the ads have been rejected for placement in the Regal Ukiah Stadium 6 cinema by its national media placement firm, which is named as National CineMedia — which also serves theaters owned by AMC Entertainment Cinemark Holdings, and others.

The reason? According to the agency that produced the ads, DG Creative Branding, "It conflicts with soda sales in the theater lobby and will upset management and the theater circuit"

As the agency's video points out, bottled water (marketed by Coke and Pepsi) is also sold at cinema concessions. So it seems strange that these PSAs were seen as such a threat. Especially considering their unassuming DYI stock-photo-slideshow style, and the fact that they were sponsored by the CDC.

I doubt there's any vast cola conspiracy here. My guess is that some poorly-trained individual at National CineMedia made a stupid call. The company could not be reached by Daily Journal News for comment.

What's the most offensive thing about this Cougar Life billboard?

Via Copyranter

Is it the sexualization of breastfeeding? The sleazification of motherhood?

Me, I'm offended most by the censorship. It's part of a much bigger problem.

Update: The billboard is being taken down, and for all the wrong reasons.

David Bowie gets his new video banned by YouTube

Apparently, getting people to censor your work for offending religious sensibilities isn't just a young man's (or woman's) game. At the ripe old age of 66, David Bowie has managed another PR coup by having the latest video release from The Next Day get pulled by YouTube for an apparent violation of its Terms of Service.

Fortunately, Bowie's main video hub is on Vevo:



Sky News reports that the video, directed by Floria Sigismondi and featuring Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard, was yanked yesterday—the very day it was released.

Sky's description is as good as any:

It depicts Cotillard - the French actress who won an Oscar for her role in La Vie En Rose - as a dancing girl who bleeds from stigmata marks on her palms, while Bowie plays a Jesus-like figure in robes fronting his band in a seedy basement bar. 

Oldman plays a priest who dances with Cotillard. As she sinks to the floor bleeding from her hands, Oldman turns to Bowie - dressed in what appear to be sackcloth robes - shouting: "You see this? This is your doing - you call yourself a prophet?" 

Cotillard's wounds spray blood all over a topless, veiled woman before she rises again dressed in black with tears on her cheeks and bathed in light.
The video also includes a monk being flogged.

However, it has returned to YouTube with an age restriction and Vevo branding.

So far, the video "ban" has been covered by Sky, Yahoo!, The Independent, CBC, The Atlantic, etc., etc.

Most coverage assumes that the religious imagery is the cause of the ban. But I hope not. Showing priests, nuns, bishops and saints as grotesque parodies or sinners is an artistic tradition going back to the middle ages. And Bowie has been a "Leper Messiah" since 1972. You can't say there's not art to this.

YouTube apparently hasn't commented on the issue, but I'll bet it was one of two things:

1) They got so many user complaints that the video was "abuse" that they automatically took it down until it could be reviewed, and/or
2) It was the mostly-exposed breasts being sprayed with stigmata blood (which might explain the age restriction)

(They have since commented. Via Pitchfork:  Billboard reports that a YouTube spokesperson told them, "With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call. When it's brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it.") 

Nonetheless, this is just the latest in what has been one of the most impressive publicity campaigns for a comeback album that I have ever seen. First, David Bowie managed to record the entire album entirely in secret, releasing the first single as a video on the stroke of midnight on his 66th birthday. This generated massive interest for the album, which was not due to come out for two months. He then pre-released his second video single, a song of a very different genre, which seemingly paid homage to an internet meme that he and Tilda Swinton are the same person. The album cover caused gasps in the design world for being just a re-hash of the "Heroes" cover with a white square over the face. And the artist has avoided giving interviews, instead leaving the press access to his band, his producer, and even his wife's Twitter feed.

As a result, his official Facebook page says The Next Day is David Bowie's most popular album since Let's Dance.

And David Bowie is the most interesting and relavant he has been since the Seventies.


Bonus: Flavorwire attempts to deconstruct all the religious imagery