Disclaimer: The views in this blog post are the views of Technical Markus only, and do not necessarily reflect MobileShop.com’s views.
You may have heard about this, but in the last few days, there’s been a ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority forbidding top tier mobile phone manufacturer LG from showing the advert for the LG Venus in the UK. And why was it banned? Because the woman in the advert, at one point, appears to be using a mobile phone in her car.
Now, I was going to do a fair, even-handed and neutral commentary about the whole issue, weighing up the factors in the case of both LG and the ‘public’ viewpoint. But then, I remembered how many people the Guardian said had complained about the advert, and realised that the word ‘public’ isn’t quite right…
Would you like to know how many people complained?
33.
Yep, 33 people out of 60-odd million people in the UK complained about the LG advert. That’s a staggering 0.00000055% of the population. Or, as I like to put it, 0.00000055% of the population have trouble differentiating fantasy from reality…
In their words, they say that LG are encouraging ‘dangerous behaviour’ by condoning people using their mobile phones in the car. Despite the fact she is not actually clearly shown holding a phone in the car (or if she is, it’s for approximately half a nano-milli-pico-second), they complained that the fact it had a shot of her holding a mobile phone (with a completely different backdrop, mind you, that looks NOTHING like the street set the car was parked on) in between shots of her in the car, means that people will follow suit and use their mobile phones in the car, presumably triggering some sort of car/phone-based Apocalypse.
Don’t believe me about how long she was holding the phone for? Check out the video itself (sorry about it being in Dutch, but, you know, the English one’s banned………………)
See? Fraction of a second, if that!
I can’t help but wonder how these people think we survive every day, when the evil TV is beaming such mind-altering images into our brains. I’m just surprised no-one complained about the scantily-clad woman cavorting about in the ad. I can remember a time when it was semi-nakedity on telly that would corrupt us, and make us all into ravening monsters (anyone old enough to remember Mary Whitehouse’s diatribes against TV will know what I mean). Seems it’s not ‘filth’ any more, but health and safety that the do-gooders think we can’t understand and deal with ourselves.
Now, the fact is, I don’t think people should use their mobile phones while they’re in the car. That’s one law I can agree with. But by the same token, how dare these small-minded people think that the other people, like me, can’t think for themselves?! Do they really think if we see an advert for mobile phones, with a car in it, that we’ll go and mow down an entire school playground?
Perhaps they also think that watching an advert for Fanta will make people start spitting in the street? But, oh wait, they banned that one, too, so you can’t watch it any more.
In conclusion then, I am deeply offended by the complainants’ obvious disregard for my, your, and indeed the vast majority of the population’s critical abilities. And let’s not forget… IT’S AN ADVERT THAT LASTS ALL OF 20 SECONDS. THIS IS NOT ‘CITIZEN KANE’ WE’RE TALKING HERE!
So, my message to the complainers: lighten up, let your hair down and for heaven’s sake have some fun, because life’s too short! Or, as the philosopher puts it: do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight…
Do you think the advert should’ve been banned? Or do you think it’s all a storm in a teacup, and people need to lighten up? Either way, leave us a comment and have your say!
