Alright, so it might not necessary tease that exact reaction out of you. In fact you just might opt for the traditional three letter expletive. And that will be at the audience reaction and not at the so-called offending material itself. What am I going on about? So-called controversial content that have riled up people over time. Specifically I want to mention three ads that have annoyed a number of usually sensible people.
These are ads that were meant to make you laugh. Or at best, run off to buy their new-fangled product. Personally, I don't find anything offensive about any of them, even the last one. All of them seem quite innocent and silly at best. That's what makes all the spewing angry words from the general public so ... weird.
Virgin ad that some call "That Branson Ad"
Oh come on! Why were people complaining about Richard Branson's role in this ad? Honestly, the way people ranted and raved about his 'patronizing' outlook in the ad, I expected him to be the lead character. Perhaps filling a sack with puppies and smuggling them in a Virgin train. Or using them as a pinata on a Virgin train. The way people were going on and on I expected something really shocking.
So imagine my surprise when I couldn't spot Mr. Branson the first two times I saw the ad. Condescending? Demeaning? What are they going on about? I can't even find the man in the ad. And when I did, it was a bit of a 'facepalm' moment. I commend him on being a rather good sport.
And later, the puppet sold for thousands of Rand!
This one requires a bit of background information. The franchise in question is popular food outlet in South Africa. These guys are famous for their ads which offer a good blend of topical issues mixed with quirky sense of humor.
Well this particular ad got them into a lot of trouble. The puppet in the ad alludes to a youth group leader called Julius Malema. These guys are affiliated with the country's largest political party, the ANC. Well, every party was sort of borrowing heavily from the US inspired 'change' theme and, yes, ANC also ran with that idea. Only problem is, the youth group was a bit too forward in their defense of their party and it's ideas. Sure, there was a lot of mudslinging and other dirty tactics from all sides. But Malema was always one step ahead in the verbal tirade. His comments about 'killing' for the leader (link), the rape accuser from the now-acquitted leader's trial (link) and opposition party leader Zille (link) earned him the image of a "Talk first, Think later" sort of man. And so, is it any wonder that the backlash to his comments included a possibly fake school certificate from his school days? Apparently he didn't do so well in Maths and Woodwork.
Put this in context of this ad. "Change" could be a play on the words and the 100% Malema is a playful jab at their t-shirts. The ad folks seemed to be banking on an ongoing joke in the country anyway. Well, here's where it become funnier. The ad was controversial, certain people talked of militant action and Nandos listened to Malema's complaints. Filtered his comments and got to the gist of it, is more like it. They pulled the ad and came up with this one, which by the way was an even better parody than the first one.
Click here to see the altered ad.
Man with Mohawk hits a nerve
This is another unbelievable moment. From the sounds of it, tons of angry viewers complained about the negative message in this ad. In a nutshell, the ad has Mr. T belting out snickers bars to a speed-walker.
But here's what I found funny ... a number of people outside UK got al riled up and had this ad pulled ... from UK. Apparently folks in UK were a-okay with this ad; in fact, there were only 2 complaints about it. People were pretty much "meh". I suppose once you've seen cutting humor on a show like Nevermind the Buzzcocks, the Mr. T ad is like watching the antics of a playful kitten. I still cannot believe that this ad was offensive enough to be pulled and yet, people are happily waving the free speech banner in defense of Miss CA.