Netizens on daring ads: why the fuss?
UPDATED
Singaporeans need to loosen up and be more open to creative advertisements, said the majority of Yahoo! Singapore readers, who were referring to ads that have been in the spotlight in the past week.
One is an ad by Strip: Ministry of Waxing, featuring an open fur clutch captioned, "Unfurgiveable". The ad, offering a discounted price for a Brazilian wax, leaves no doubt about which part of the female anatomy it's referring to.
The other ad that has made headlines recently is an Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) ad, showing a male model's naked upper body with his hands pushing down his low-slung jeans.
The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore said it breached decency guidelines and the Media Development Authority has thrown its weight behind the regulatory watchdog.
Straits Times reader Anand A Vathiya earlier wrote in to the newspaper's Forum page, where he questioned the "fuss" over fashion retailer A&F's ad.
"Would ASAS care to assess a truly obscene poster advertising a local firm specializing in beauty and waxing?" he asked in a letter published on Saturday.
"The vulgar visual of the poster advertising Strip: Ministry of Waxing is plastered in malls and on lamp posts and as street buntings," he said, citing The Cathay building and Great World City as two places where the ad is displayed.
Strip, established in Singapore in 2002, is part of a the Spa Esprit Group founded by entrepreneur Cynthia Chua.
Yahoo! Singapore's story on Saturday asking which of the two ads was more indecent drew over 200 comments.
Most readers felt both ads were creative and got the job done in terms of attracting people's attention.
Taurus said, "If one puts too many restrictions into advertising visuals, where is creativity? What is indecent or not here, is just a matter of perspective. Singapore is a cosmopolitan city, let's not expect the government agencies to be policing all the time."
Calling for Singaporeans to be more "open-mind(ed)", Daniel Teo noted on Yahoo! Singapore's Facebook page that such ads are common in other countries.
However, some readers felt otherwise.
Boy Wonder said, "It may be 2011 but a thought must always be given about children who are sensitive to such images."
Facebook poster Pauline Sook said advertising should be done with "responsibility and class, balanced with creativity". She added, "Playing on gender sexual objectivism to this extent is insensitive to women."
