I've seen in a couple of places a link to a Twitter post describing some apparently horrendously offensive ad. I haven't seen it, and that's mostly because of the framing, because I am hypervigilant about what i will watch and why. Anything with a whiff of clickbait, I avoid... but since I've seen it a couple places, I want to independently verify. Without watching the ad, without clicking on Twitter, which is not a good place for me, how can I find out what this ad is for and why people are upset about it?
I tried doing a Google News search for "controversial ads". I did not find anything that looked like what people were talking about on Twitter, but I did find a number of interesting stories. Here are four examples of ads which, internationally, have controversy and why:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/368041/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-Cottonil-pulls-controversial-TV-ad-after-ba.aspx
"Egypt's Cottonil pulls controversial TV ad after backlash" - this was about an advertisement which was pulled because in part of the song, a woman sang approvingly of a man's undershirts and boxers.
(A story on the sidebar link states " Egypt’s 9th doctor dies from coronavirus " - the family of whoever Egypt's Christopher Eccleston was have my deepest sympathy)
https://nypost.com/2020/05/07/ad-showing-a-squirrel-humping-a-deodorant-can-outrages-viewers/
Well I think that's kind of all there in the title, with the most important part, of course, being "nypost.com". The only thing I will add is that the ad is apparently British. Not that I doubt Americans _could_ produce an ad featuring a squirrel humping a deodorant can.
https://www.abacusnews.com/culture/xiaomi-says-controversial-nuclear-bomb-ad-wasnt-meant-japan/article/3083247
This apparently contained some questionable cultural stereotypes of Japan: "In one part of the two-minute video, a person eating sushi is shown inflating into the shape of a balloon and floating into the air. Against a backdrop that appears to show Zojoji Temple and Tokyo Tower, the “fat man” explodes into an animated mushroom cloud."
https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/up-meerut-hospital-issues-apology-for-ad-calling-for-restricted-entry-of-muslims-calling-hindus-misers/580100
This relates to a newspaper ad for a New Delhi hospital which caused widespread offense for declaring their intent to blatantly discriminate against Muslims. Not content with this, the ad also suggested that Hindus and Jains who didn't give them money were "misers".
I have no conclusions here. I haven't seen any of these ads. I have plenty of personal opinions but am trying to keep them out of this post, because I don't believe my opinions on the offensiveness, or lack thereof, of any of these ads are remotely relevant or valuable to anyone.
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