Tags
Adultery, Advertising, Ashley Madison, Atheist Bus, CTV, Religion, Sex, Super Bowl, Super Bowl Advertising, Television advertising, TTC, TV
CTV announced it will not allow the outright promotion of adultery during the Super Bowl from online clandestine fornication facilitator Ashley Madison. It is, apparently, still okay to create half hour and hour long shows for the network that feature married folks running around behind the backs of their spouses. But thirty-second spots promoting the practice are definately frowned upon.
We know sex sells on TV (Go Daddy anyone?), but selling sex on TV is a whole other matter. But the thing about selective censorship and authoritarian morality is that it becomes a very slippery slope. I’m not 100% sure exactly where I stand on this, whether to applaud the decision, or to rally against it. What I do know is that there are always layers of hypocrisy to unravel and look inside. We owe it to ourselves to question everything.
Another interesting controversy is the Atheist Bus campaign which just received approval for display on the Toronto Transit Commission yesterday. I know where I stand on this one and think the TTC did the right thing in allowing it.
Perhaps the mixed message being sent by these two campaigns is that since there is no God, adultery is probably okay so don’t worry about burning in hell. Ashley Madison may want to look into an affiliate program with these folks.
What do you think about CTV pulling the Ashely Madison spot? What about Atheist Bus? Feel free to leave a comment below.
I’m glad that they are allowing the atheist advertising on buses, and actually find it hard to believe that it was even an issue. From what I’ve heard and seen of it, it doesn’t criticize other beliefs (religions/viewpoints) anymore than they do atheism.
As for the Ashley Madison ad, I can see why someone at the network might disagree with it. Cheers to them though for getting some free publicity out of not getting their ad shown.
I applaud CTV and am disappointed in the TTC. CTV first. Ashley Madison is a website that promotes having an affair, which could result in the destruction of your marriage, the breakup of homes with kids, and is probably supported by divorce lawyers everywhere. It’s a sad day in a society when we openly advertise that it is ok to stray outside of the bonds of marriage should we not be satisfied.
I wonder if the TTC would have run an ad campaign if one church took shots directly at another. Let’s say the Anglicans called the Pope a message from Satan, and wanted to run that in a bus ad. A bit extreme, perhaps, but for someone with religious convictions, a campaign that derides my belief system is upsetting. I wonder if the TTC would have run it if the word God was replaced with the word Mohammad. I doubt it. Taking shots at Christianity is entertainment. We don’t fight back, we don’t protest and we’ll probably do nothing to complain. I wonder who’s protecting my religious freedoms?
Thanks Parker. You are right, just like GoDaddy, they are getting free publicity without spending on the airtime.
Hey Paul – thanks for commenting. I respect your view 100%. You make some great points. What it boils down to for myself on the Atheist Bus issue is that if Religious advertising is allowed, then they should be allowed to as well. It is not an issue of who is right or wrong, it is fairness in advertising and a free speech type thing. We have progressed to that point so I look at it from that angle, regardless if I agree with the message or not.
Michael
Interesting that Ottawa, along with several other Canadian cities, rejected the atheist’s advertising campaign. Do you think the TTC would have approved it if the campaing was “Mohammad is a fake?”.