Sunday, 29 May 2011

Ministry Raises Stink Over Deodorant Ads

A young man with a toothache stands outside the dentist's clinic wearing an unbuttoned shirt. Before entering, he decides to spray himself with a substantial amount of deodorant (we can understand he may have left his shirt unbuttoned as he rushed over to the dentist in agony, but why linger outside grooming himself when he is in so much pain, one wonders). Cut to the dentist's room, and we see a lady clearly overcome by the fragrance. The next sequence shows her, too, unbuttoning her shirt.

Another ad shows a woman looking suggestively at a man while eating a watermelon with, er, gusto.

Too much for television? The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting thinks so.

Continuing its crackdown against objectionable content on television, the ministry has raised eyebrows on the recent slew of men's deodorant advertisements on Indian television, calling them "overtly sexual." All of them clearly take a cue from the Axe deodorant commercials, which show women overcome by desire after inhaling the aforementioned product. It is also interesting to note that in India, Axe commercials are far more toned down as compared to the bolder versions abroad.

The ministry last week  sent a letter to the Advertising Standards Council of India, an independent body responsible for promoting [...]



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