Sexy ghd IV ‘Thy Will Be Done’ Ad Banned
March 12, 2008
When the phrase “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” was first coined, it’s doubtful that ghd IV hair styling equipment was the golden calf in mind.
Fast forward to 2008, and the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that television advertisements for ghd IV with the catchphrase “thy will be done” may cause what they believe to be “serious offence” to Christians and have been banned from UK screens.
The ads features multiple sexy women praying for somewhat selfish goals, such as “‘May my new curls make her feel choked with jealousy” and “Make him dump her tonight and come home with me.”
At the end, the phrase “thy will be done” appears, with the letter ’t’ looking suspicously similar to a very familiar cross. The tagline “ghd. A new religion for hair” follows.
“We concluded that the eroticised images of the women apparently in prayer, in conjunction with religious symbols such as the votive candle and the rosary beads, the use of the phrase ‘thy will be done’ from the Lord’s Prayer and the image of the letter ‘t’ as the Cross of Jesus, were likely to cause serious offence, particularly to Christians,” the ASA ruled.
It took only 23 complaints to get the ads taken off the air.
Mysterious ways, indeed.
If you’re not offended by such things, check out one of the adverts below.
Apple Dismisses Beatles On iTunes Reports
March 12, 2008
We certainly hope we won’t have to wait until we’re sixty-four in order to see the Beatles catalog appear on iTunes, but it looks like those reports that it’ll happen within the next few months are incorrect.
Multiple reports have surfaced within the last few days stating that the collection of Beatles tunes would be making their way to Apple’s iTunes within months, not years, and the sources were allegedly individuals who were ”close to Sir Paul McCartney”.
Paul McCartney did say in an interview with Billboard last November that “It’s down to fine-tuning, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be happening next year, 2008.”
Apple does not agree. The company referred to the talk as “unsubstantiated speculation” and told Reuters that ”this is not news nor is it a scoop.”
The Beatles are considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, bands of all time. It may not happen tomorrow, or even within months, but it’s only a matter of time before this deal does go down.
It’s Official: Google Acquires DoubleClick For 3.1 Billion
March 11, 2008
Google announced today that the company has finally closed the deal to acquire DoubleClick, which specializes in online ad serving and management.
The Federal Trade Commission okayed the agreement back in December 2007, but it took substantially longer for EU antitrust regulators to give the thumbs up.
“The Commission’s in-depth market investigation found that Google and DoubleClick were not exerting major competitive constraints on each other’s activities and could, therefore, not be considered as competitors at the moment,” the group concluded.
Competitors Microsoft and Yahoo had sought to block the acquisition, expressing concerns that it would give Google too much of a monopoly on the online advertising market.
And with great power comes great responsibility.
“Today’s acquisition of DoubleClick will provide Google with unrivalled access to consumer data and a foothold in the display media space,” said Wayne Arnold of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).