ONE of my favourite ads on tv at the moment is that Lynx Angels ad. I must admit, when it first ran a couple of month’s ago, it was played to death but what is not to love about beautiful girls (sorry, angels), stunning Italian scenery and the very humorous satire that angels might fall because of a deodorant. It’s just gold! I have got to give it to those peeps at Lynx (and Unilever), they come up with some awesome advertising campaigns.
And how delighted was I when I stole the remote from the missus on Sunday night and quickly switched off X Factor repeats to put on ITV’s Rugby World Cup highlights and found a follow-up Angels ad (the sequel). It was just as good, if not even better because there is the slight innuendo that Mr I Spray Lynx On Myself had actually bedded one of the glorious creatures. Double gold.
Imagine my dismay then, when I read on TheSouthAfrican.com that our friends in South Africa have actually banned the ads! WTF? Are you serious?
Apparently, South Africa’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have instructed the ad to be withdrawn as it could offend Christians.
“A viewer who complained to the ASA about the advert said the suggestion that angels — God’s messengers — would literally fall for a man wearing this deodorant was incompatible with his belief as a Christian, according to the ruling by the ASA’s directorate made on 14 October,” The South African reports.
“As such, the problem is not so much that angels are used in the commercial, but rather that the angels are seen to forfeit, or perhaps forego their heavenly status for mortal desires. This is something that would likely offend Christians in the same manner as it offended the complainant.”
What a load of complete hogswash! If someone seriously thought the ad was real, misleading or “incompatible”, they need to have a good hard look at themselves.
In the meantime, I will enjoy watching the ad over here where those at the advertising standards authority are not so thick to ban something clever. I also hope it is being shown at home because I reckon the Aussie audience would love it. Plus, I am spraying myself in the offending deodorant all the time, just in case that crazy person in South Africa was on to something and angels might actually fall for me… I’ll keep you posted!
Watch the “incompatible” videos here: