If men could breast-feed!

The UK Paddy-Bingo ad showing a man sitting with his exposed tit with a small baby in his arms has been banned by the British tube and the Dublin bus service as "it has the potential to disturb public decency".

I think that the company has got more than what it had invested in this ad. Blogs are writing about it, newspaper carry the ad on their front pages as news, it seems like an advertiser's dream. In a few days, as the ripples of the ad will spread, more and more persons all around the world will know about the ad.

On first reflections, the ad may seem offensive. For example, it does seem to say that women are gamblers, they prefer gambling to taking care of their children. However, if you just look around you, the ad seems laughable, it is not the reality. In families with small children, it is men who go out more. An evening out, with friends at the pub or at the stadium or evening gambling, is more a male thing. Women can go out if they get a baby sitter, but the whole society has such a strong message about "good moms" that most women would feel guilty about leaving their children, especially young babies alone at home, not just for gambling but even for work.

I agree with Oliviero Toscani, the ad designer for Benetton that advertising has a social role. Toscani by using shocking pictures, creates controversies, attracts attention towards the brand he is advertising but at the same time, makes us reflect about issues. In the same way, I feel that this British ad is good as it makes us reflect on issues.

For example, I was thinking if men could breast feed, would the world be safer? Would there be less wars and fights?

Or if we could turn the ad and had a woman with a dildo in her hands and the ad had asked, "where have all the men gone?", would we be offended?

Dolce & Gabbana: censored ad

Dolce and Gabbana are a wellknown brand today. They arrived at the international high end fashion scene not very long ago and in relatively short period of time, were able to build up their image.

Obviously, the world is full of designers. Many of them have good imagination and skills but only a selected few become so famous that they can sell their creations for outrageous amounts.

D&G made their brand name on the basis of shocking and very imaginative ads that caught the fancy of the youth of that time. Using ambigous looking models, where it was difficult to make out if it was a man or a woman, with effeminate looking young boys and muscular girls, they immediately got noticed.

Over the past few years, their ads have continued to become more and more explicit with completely nudity and suggestive poses. For example look the following two examples of their ads:

In both these ads, there is a completely nude male figure, however the subject of the picture is not overtly sexual and thus the picture can evoke ambigous feelings in the onlooker.
However, lately they have gone into more explicitly sexual ads, like the one below that has clear gay tones as a nude man lies in the middle, another man is undressing and other dressed men look down suggestively.

Their latest ad was even more shocking and provoked some protests and was banned first in Spain and then in Italy. The independent Italian advertising monitoring body explains its banning decision, "The picture of the nude man holding the wrists of the nude woman and preparing to penetrate her, while she is clearly struggling and trying to get away, with two onlookers who look passively without interfering, suggests violence and rape and thus can not be accepted."

Obviously the banned ad created even more publicity and thus D&G must be happy that their brand is going to be even more famous.

Censored ads

40 years ago, Italian ad agencies, that make commercial publicity campaigns, decided to set up an independent institute of self-control for commercial advertising (Istituto di Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria - IAP). To celebrate this 40th anniversary, an exhibition is going on in Milan central railway station in north of Italy showing a series of ads that were considered inappropriate by IAP.

Most of the ads that were blocked were because they were giving incorrect information, such as ads promising miraculous cures or weight loss.

Generally speaking, Italy is a very permissive country in ways that would seem unimaginable in most countries of the world. However, there were a few ads that were still judged to going too far even by Italian standards. Here is a small sample from this exhibition.

The first one an ad from Benetton. You don't need any explanation to understand why it was not considered appropriate!

This ad literally says, "Come do a Cuban", which in Italian can mean, "Have sex with a Cuban."

Guess the product they wanted to advertise with this one! Yes, it was the famous mozzarella cheese that you put on pizzas.

This one is from a courier company and it says, "Your pack is in good hands".

Interested in acting?

For a serial on Italian national TV, I have been asked to help with identifying three persons of Indian origin:
1. A woman between 25 to 30 years
2. A young man between 18 to 22 years
3. A boy between 10 to 13 years

The film will be shot in Rome. The requested persons must speak Italian fluently and should have regular permission of stay in Italy. The persons will be asked to show a proof of their age. No previous acting experience is asked.
Please ask all interested persons to contact me by email (sunil@kalpana.it) urgently (latest by 30 June 2006) or leave a message with contact details under "comments" of this blog.

Please share this message with as many Indians living in Italy as possible.

Advertisements in Rome

I love to take pictures of ads. While looking at my Rome folder, I suddenly realised I have a nice collection of some ad-pics. So here is a selection for you.

Of course we start with Dolce and Gabbana. The designer couple are very gay, very-nose-in-the-air and some what irritating, but you have to hand it to them that they know their designs. This huge ad right next to the famous Via Veneto seems inspired from Chennai cutout of Jayalalita, that the fans of Amma love so much!


This brightly lit ad is in the beautiful Piazza Navona, I know, I have already told you about it. Actually with those wonderful fountains, I don't think that ads get much attention.
Can you guess this place? Without the crowds it is not easy to recognise it but it is the Trinità dei Monti or the Spanish steps, where Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holidays eats ice-cream. Don't tell me you haven't seen Roman Holiday, 'cause it is kind of old! Of course it is, but once you watch it, you won't forget it.


This christmas tree is in the atrium of the central station, Termini, of Rome. You are supposed to write down your wish list for christmas and hang it on the tree. And the ad? It is about the winter olympics that are due to start in the north Italian town of Turin on 10 February 2006.
This is special ad, for remembering the two Italian volunteers, Simona Pari and Simona Toretta, who were kidnapped in Iraq, asking for their release. They were indeed released unharmed. However, it is the statue on the right that requires your attention. What do you think, that man is holding with his left hand ? If you curious to take a closer look, this pic is from Campi d'Oglio, or the municipality square.
That is Nokia ad on the picture of the Egyptian pillar, surrounding the actual pillar undergoing rennovation in the Piazza della Repubblica. One of the largest squares in Rome, it is very picturesque.

To conclude, just a hint about the long lasting rennovations of historical buildings in Italy. It seems that wonderful old monuments are all in the centres of the cities, wonderful places for advertising. Since tickets don't seem to generate enough income, rennovation gives the opportunity to cover up the monument, and use it for placing ads. Rome municipality is discussing what to do about these never-ending rennovations.