Wow, That’s Hot
In possibly the hottest story of the month… no, who am I kidding, this story is absurd… Ryanair has come under fire for a recent ad it placed in several newspapers, depicting a sexy model in the stereo typical ‘cute school girl’ outfit. I can’t quite fathom what people have against this advert, the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority, or, if you prefer, Absurd Silly Asses) claims this links teenage girls with “sexually provocative behaviour”. Ha!
I’m sorry, but if you think people need this image in their morning newspaper to link teenage girls with provocative behaviour, you seriously need to catch up with the times. This is what school girls do. In fact, what’s wrong with any girl (under, let’s say, fifty) showing off her body? I don’t have a problem with that, and no smart arse, it’s not just because I’m a guy. We live in a, supposedly, free country, remember? People can do what they like as long as it falls within the stringent guidelines of our democratic society. Yeh.
Of course, I fail to see where this would cause “serious or widespread offence”, if any. Who exactly would complain?? Guys definitely wouldn’t, older women wouldn’t, women who swing that way wouldn’t, and the demographic the picture depicts? Well, they may get the wrong idea and start idolising this girl as some kind of role model, but other than that, no offence. Maybe it’s just the complete morons who like to complain about things they feel are inappropriate. Well, excuse me, but I didn’t think you had the right to shove your opinions down my throat, and influence what I read/watch/listen to. Oh wait, we live in a free country, my bad.
Needless to say, from a company that has been in various advertising debates previously, Ryanair told the ASA to shove it. No really, they said they would continue to run the ad, unaltered. Rock on!! The comments made by the Head (yes, you heard me, he’s in charge!) of Communications, Peter Sherrard, echo my thoughts exactly:
“This isn’t advertising regulation, it is simply censorship. This bunch of unelected self-appointed dimwits are clearly incapable of fairly and impartially ruling on advertising.”
What’s even more amusing is that, of the three newspapers who placed the ad in front of 3.5 million readers, just a single complaint was received. That paper said it wouldn’t run the ad again… fair enough, presumably out of fear of losing that reader? Whatever. What’s even better is that the remaining two papers, who received exactly zero complaints, also said they wouldn’t rerun the ad. Huh?? I don’t get it.
Just one last point about Ryanair though, I urge you to read this article from The Wall Street Journal, as it has some absolutely fantastic quotes from the Chief Executive, Mr O’ Leary, about how he runs his business. I think he’s going to be my role model, not the half naked school girl. I dunno, he just strikes me as being easier to imitate.
Kinda depressing though, that they wanted to keep the ad running, and no newspapers will accept it. Hmm, wonder if I could find a copy somewhere…..
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