Activists are getting bolder in a campaign of vandalising adverts that display naked flesh
BILLBOARD adverts featuring partial nudity are being defaced by Muslim activists who are offended by displays of flesh.
The advertising watchdog has confirmed that increasing numbers of posters are being torn down or painted over in predominantly Islamic areas.
A website giving advice on how to vandalise billboards and listing potential targets has been set up by a group calling themselves Muslims Against Advertising (MAAD).
Oh my good drol. What’s next? Muslims don’t allow their women to look at themselves while showering?
No more: “Ooo, my ass is getting big, I need a diet” - “Keep your eyes closed woman!” ?
NB: These posters don’t show completely nude women.
Sounds moronic to me. On the plus side, when I viewed the article there was an ad showing a nude woman lying on a bed of tomatoes. So score one for free, naked expression. Good luck defacing an online graphic, losers!
I used to really like the billboard that eXtreme Fitness in Pittsburgh had (although their business has a stupid name).
They ran two billboards, one featuring a woman and one featuring a man, in which the model was nude, but had all the ‘naughty bits’ creatively out of sight. The models were fit and toned, not anorexic looking, and the billboard simply said ‘Wouldn’t you like to stop traffic too?’ and gave the phone number of the health club.
I saw it as a major shame when people had a problem with them. Nudity shouldn’t be evil, and neither should the promotion of a healthy, in shape, toned body.
Oh, and I looked up the referenced web site. Turns out it’s a Geocities free site that is currently exceeding its bandwidth allottment, presumably due to the stir created by the Times article. I wouldn’t be surprised if this outift has been around for a quite a while and, at least till now, consisted of no more than a couple of angry guys who “have paint and are not afraid to use it”.
I think the whole idea is fairly stupid (yes, fundamentalist muslims, advertisers are employing half-nekkid women as a selling tactic just to piss you off) and MAAD’s tactics offend ME for presuming to dictate what I may look at, but I’m pretty sure there have been nutjobs on the Christian fringe who have advocated similar things, and this sounds a bit of a teacup tempest.
Count me in as someone who can’t get too worked up about this. I mean, hey, I’m all about public nudity and all against vandalism, but I can understand how people don’t want what they consider offensive displayed on billboards. Whether it’s nudity, aborted fetuses, or Judge Judy, I can see how people don’t want to be subjected to that on their way home from work.
Still, the Muslims could have lodged formal complaints rather than engaging in criminal acts.
There have, indeed, been a number of priggish popes who “figged” paintings found in chapels and churches. However, I have never heard that charge laid against John XXIII and I don’t recall any fig leaves in the Vatican when I was there eight years after his death (unless you are claiming that Paul VI immediately reversed the problem).
I’ve been hunting for a cite, but can’t find one. I was there in 1966, three years after his death, and I’ve got a pretty distinct memory of the tour guide explaining why there were fig leaves on all the statues. They looked fairly “fresh,” too, by which I mean that the plaster with which they’d been attached had that new, whitish look that tends to go away after a few years.
How can we say if this is an overreaction if you don’t show us these posters?
Ok, women only please. The Muslim painters only want to cover up the women, trust me. And only fit women. Not too skinny, they have no problem with them. They hate the models with a little meat on them, you know? And areola size…where do I begin with areola size? They hate the medium sized ones, alright? Bring me those.
From what I understand, Saudi Arabia censors all kinds of stuff-movie posters, magazines, newspapers, etc. How do they dealwith newspapers that have advertisements? I mean, and American or European paper has ads that show nearly-nude women in ads for lingerie , swimsuits, etc.
Must be a lot of saudis busily cutting these things out!
EKbut I’m pretty sure there have been nutjobs on the Christian fringe who have advocated similar things, and this sounds a bit of a teacup tempest.
Just to be truly ecumenical about fundamentalist prudery, allow me to offer a couple instances of Orthodox Jewish teacup tempests on nudity issues too!
Now, protesting or boycotting advertisements that your religious beliefs condemn as obscene or indecent is something you have every right to do, no matter what your religion is. If more liberal people like to snicker at you for prudishness, that’s their right too.
But destroying other people’s property—whether it’s defacing posters or slashing tires—is right out of line, and should not be tolerated.
Oh, thank god for you and everyone else who shows that it isn’t just Muslims who have a disdain for nipples! Seriously, you just averted the largest backlash on Muslims by the SDMB members ever. Right thinking people like you and I know that they’re a vicious fucked up bunch.
You’re an internet hero, and your fairness is an example to us all. You can never only pit a specific religious sect for what they’ve done if another religious sect has done the same thing in the past*. Kudos to you! Because gum couldn’t have known that (s)he had to pit all fundamentalist religious painters!
All by himself?