Deodorant ad 'offensive to Christians'

27 October 2011 - 02:33 By ANDILE NDLOVU
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The advertising watchdog has ordered that a commercial for a men's deodorant be pulled because it would "likely offend Christians".

In the 30-second Axe Excite advert, angels in the form of gorgeous women wearing mini dresses and beaming halos descend on what looks like a small Mediterranean town, bringing it to a standstill and surprising the townsfolk.

Viewer Dawie Theron wrote to the Advertising Standards Authority saying that, according to the Bible, angels were God's messengers and that he did not agree with the suggestion that they could fall for a man wearing the deodorant.

In the advert, the angels walk past staring people and through the debris caused by their landing from heaven in pursuit of a man who has sprayed the deodorant on himself.

As the advert wraps up, they remove their halos and the pay-off line follows: "New fragrance from Axe. Even angels will fall."

In its response to the complaint, the deodorant's manufacturer, Unilever SA, said there was "nothing in the commercial" meant to be anti-Christian and there was "no undermining of a core Christian belief".

"While angels may have their origin in religion and mythology, they have become secular property. There are numerous cartoons, stories and movies about angels," read its response.

Unilever said the advert was "hyperbolic".

It pointed to a similar Virgin Mobile advert that the advertising authority had ruled not to be offensive.

In the Virgin Mobile advert, screened on TV and at cinemas, a man called Jack, who suffers a heart attack because of a high cellphone bill, is carried to heaven where scantily clad angels carry beer and suggestively wash sports cars. Once a gatekeeper in heaven realises Jack has not settled his account, he kicks him back to Earth.

But the advertising authority directorate did not see things the same way as Unilever and ordered it to immediately remove the Axe advert.

The ruling said: "The problem is not that the imagery of angels is used in the advertisement, but rather the fact that the angels forfeit their heavenly status for mortal urges.

"That is something that can offend Christians in the same way that it offended the complainant."

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