Monday 19 January 2009

More Traipsing Down Memory Lane...

Still no inspiration for entertaining and witty repartee in my blog posts (nothing new there, then!) Nevertheless, a comment from Fr. Owl after my last post, about how adverts used to be creative and funny (sometimes more than the programmes) got me reminiscing about a few of my favourites.

Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins had a great set of ads for Cinzano... and four of the best are shown here. I am unable to decide which is the funniest; I find myself torn between the Japanese businessmen and the airplane recliner seat... on reflection, I'll plump for the airliner ad, as it's so very like the sort of mishap I might encounter...

6 comments:

Ttony said...

I think the Japanese businessmen just shade the aeroplane, but I've been laughing out loud here. Can you have a bit of lack of inspiration again soon?

Mulier Fortis said...

Are you suggesting that my normal posts lack humour, Mr Ttony??
;-)

the owl of the remove said...

Mac - we must be about the same age - these are all my favourites! Do you remember the Double-Diamond advert - about the curry - and the useless Pearl and Dean ads at the local cinema?

George said...

Yes indeed, these are absolutely crackers and only Leonard Rossiter a 'completely oblivious of everything around him' chump could pull off the male role. Equally Joan Collins does a grand job as the 'my face will crack if I smile' glamorous belle. Real classic vintage ads that did the job of advertising Cinzano and brought a smile to the viewer.

Enter the Millenium and 2009!!!!

As if the TV ads aren't bad enough these days look what they've done to our buses. Yes folks the 'God probably doesn't exist' adverts have been pasted all over many of Britain's public buses. Much to the glee of the likes of Richard Dawk(dork)ins of course.

Hat's off to one bus driver who refused to drive one of these atheistic buses. Thanks to Lilfesite.news for the story -

'Recently a Christian bus driver from Southampton refused to drive a bus that displayed the ad, saying he was shocked and horrified when he saw the slogan, and walked out of his shift in protest.

"I was just about to board and there it was staring me in the face, my first reaction was shock, horror," driver Ron Heather told BBC radio.

"I felt that I could not drive that bus. I think it was the starkness of this advert which implied there was no God. I told my managers and they said they haven't got another one and I thought I better go home, so I did," he said.

Personally I don't use the buses, but would find an alternative way to travel rather than board one!

I would strongly recommend that everyone reading this post should complain to the Advertising Standards Authority, here's the link and then just follow through to 'make a complaint' http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/

George said...

Update from the ASA:

21 January 2009

'The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has concluded that the “There’s probably no God” bus ad campaign by the British Humanist Association is not in breach of the advertising code. The ASA will therefore not launch an investigation and the case is now closed.

The ASA carefully assessed the 326 complaints it received. Some complained that the ad was offensive and denigratory to people of faith. Others challenged whether the ad was misleading because the advertiser would not be able to substantiate its claim that God “probably” does not exist.

The ASA Council concluded that the ad was an expression of the advertiser’s opinion and that the claims in it were not capable of objective substantiation. Although the ASA acknowledges that the content of the ad would be at odds with the beliefs of many, it concluded that it was unlikely to mislead or to cause serious or widespread offence'.

So there we have it people - the ASA has spoken. Incidentally their response is typical for just about any complaint about advertising content that I have had issue with over many years. They are totally USELESS, have no clout (or moral backbone) and one wonders why they exist at all???

Mulier Fortis said...

Alas, Fr. Owl, I may be just a shade too young to remember double diamond... and didn't frequent the cinema, so don't remember Pearl & Dean... (or maybe they were so dire I blotted them from my memory!)

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