Show cause notices for airing Condom ads

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'Obscene' ads cause furore

AFP

NEW DELHI, February 28

Indian MPs Thursday expressed concern over " obscenity " and gender bias in TV

advertisements, singling out a condom ad that shows a naughty man out for

some fun. Responding to objections by mainly women MPs, Information Minister

Ravi Shankar Prasad told parliament that 34 companies or TV channels had

been issued " show cause " notices for airing ads which some womens'

organisation complained were " obscene " . A show cause notice asks why action

should not be taken against a person or organisation on the basis of

complaints received.

Leading condom manufacturer KamaSutra, a joint venture between an Indian

company and US-based latex maker Ansel, had also received a notice, Prasad

said. " KamaSutra ad is certainly vulgur, " said Krishna Bose of the Trinamool

Congress party, an ally in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's coalition.

" Our children don't need education in this... vulgarity. " KamaSutra has

three commercials airing currently. One shows a man with a mischievous look

on his face in a waiting room as a woman unzips her bag and fumbles inside.

Another shows a man with a similar expression at a dining table as a waiter

uses a corkscrew and a woman crosses her bare legs.

The third has a man in a hospital apparently thinking naughty thoughts as a

nurse repeatedly pushes in the cap of her pen. The ads run with the punch

line: So what's on your mind?

Aniruddh Deshmukh, executive director of the company that makes KamaSutra,

said: " We will take the legal course if we get the notice. We took all legal

approvals before airing the ad. "

Information minister Prasad said despite the row, condom use was encouraged

by the government, which has struggled to slow the growth of India's

billion-plus population. " I believe in self-regulation. I have asked the

channels to follow self-regulation and they are formulating a code, " Prasad

said.

" I don't want to be a moral police but I am open to advice from the house. "

He said a decision to ban the ads would be taken only after consulting the

health ministry, which for its part says 3.97 million people are infected

with HIV, making India second only to South Africa in the number of

carriers. A US study predicted that 20 million to 25 million Indians will be

infected with HIV by 2010.

Some MPs also objected to the advertisement of a leading cosmetic cream

which they said showed the " darker woman as inferior to the fairer one " . The

minister said he had received a complaint about the ad which " allegedly

causes affront to a woman's dignity, blatantly promotes preference for a

son, upholds traditional sexist notion that a woman is incapable of being a

breadwiner. "

The ad apparently shows how a father regrets not having a son as his " dark "

daughter fails to get a job. The minister said a " show cause " notice had

been issued to four TV channels for airing the ad. Prasad said 18 pop music

videos had also been identified on the basis of similar complaints of

" obscenity " .

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/919_200052,001800010001.htm