Flavoured Condom Ads Rejected

NEW DELHI, INDIA - The ad campaign promoting XXX Flavoured Condoms, with the catchline "what is your flavour of the night", has fallen foul of both the Advertising Standards Council of India and the Censor Board.
While ASCI has asked DKT India, the company promoting the condoms, to produce the ad films for a fresh review, Censor Board chairman Sharmila Tagore has asked I&B minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and I&B secretary S K Arora to immediately stop the ad from being aired during the day and between the ongoing Champions Trophy cricket matches.
Calling the ad "offensive" and "not meant for unrestricted viewing", Tagore, who is an AIDS activist and UNICEF goodwill ambassador, told TOI, "The campaign is not in good taste."
She added, "It is not in my purview to ban the ad. But if it was, I would have done so immediately. The ad is being telecast during the Champions Trophy matches, which are watched by everybody, including children. Everybody is complaining, asking me how such an ad can be allowed to run."
Asserting that she was not against condom usage, Tagore said, "Condom use is most important. Even the Censor Board has certified several condom ads which have a message and will help India's fight against HIV/AIDS. But this campaign is obscene. Maybe DKT's target audience is raunchy teenagers. But the ads are definitely not meant for children. The ad runs could have been planned around 11 pm and after, when tv is watched by adults. But we found the ad running even at 6.45pm on DD and I&B ministry must act on it urgently. Maybe the ads should be run only in movie halls with 'A' certification."
Reacting to the complaints, Sutosi Batliwala, gm (marketing) of DKT India, told TOI that the idea behind promoting the flavours was not to promote oral sex but to encourage those couples who are repulsed by the smell of latex.
"We have received queries from ASCI. We have proper DD approval to run the ads. We wanted to use cricket as a vehicle to promote condom usage," Batliwala said.
from The Times Of India