.
I suppose that officialdom in its various forms is not renowned for its sense of humour, and this certainly applies to the Advertising Standards Agency which has banned a suggestive advertisement by a Welsh door and window company.
The offending advert features a topless woman whose breasts are discretely covered by a pair of large door knockers beneath the tag line ‘WE SELL BIG KNOCKERS ...’
One woman complained to the ASA with the result that the company was told their advertisement was degrading to women and had the potential to cause serious offence to some consumers. It, ‘bore no relevance to the products sold’, it sniffly said.
Most people would have seen the humour in the advertisement which, let’s face it, is fairly obvious and which, thanks to the intervention of the ASA, has given the company concerned a great deal of free advertising. Others, of course, may take a different view: one man’s joke is another man’s insult, I suppose.
On the other hand, if this type of officious notice is taken of what is clearly fairly harmless humour then the result is nothing less than censorship. Almost all the of the advertisements seen on television these days, for example, bear little relevance to the products being sold. Is the ASA to spend time and money looking at these? And what would become of all those hilariously saucy McGill postcards sold at seaside resorts?
Life can be pretty dull at times but, in my view, we do not need bodies such as the ASA to take official notice of something that is humorous, does no harm and about which only one person complained.
So the best of luck to Tricketts of Merthyr Tydfil and their big knockers!
I suppose that officialdom in its various forms is not renowned for its sense of humour, and this certainly applies to the Advertising Standards Agency which has banned a suggestive advertisement by a Welsh door and window company.
The offending advert features a topless woman whose breasts are discretely covered by a pair of large door knockers beneath the tag line ‘WE SELL BIG KNOCKERS ...’
One woman complained to the ASA with the result that the company was told their advertisement was degrading to women and had the potential to cause serious offence to some consumers. It, ‘bore no relevance to the products sold’, it sniffly said.
Most people would have seen the humour in the advertisement which, let’s face it, is fairly obvious and which, thanks to the intervention of the ASA, has given the company concerned a great deal of free advertising. Others, of course, may take a different view: one man’s joke is another man’s insult, I suppose.
On the other hand, if this type of officious notice is taken of what is clearly fairly harmless humour then the result is nothing less than censorship. Almost all the of the advertisements seen on television these days, for example, bear little relevance to the products being sold. Is the ASA to spend time and money looking at these? And what would become of all those hilariously saucy McGill postcards sold at seaside resorts?
Life can be pretty dull at times but, in my view, we do not need bodies such as the ASA to take official notice of something that is humorous, does no harm and about which only one person complained.
So the best of luck to Tricketts of Merthyr Tydfil and their big knockers!
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