US insurer punts 'bestiality' to wide-eyed kiddies, gasp 'mums' US insurance outfit Geico has incurred the wrath of campaigning group One Million Moms for punting a "disgusting bestiality" agenda at wide-eyed kiddies. In an advert for the Geico's mobile phone roadside assistance app, the company's porcine mascot Maxwell "and a young female are in a parked car on a lover's lane", as One …
"fed up with the filth many segments of our society, especially the entertainment media, are throwing at our children".
- Is that Fox News they're referring to, or the Hollywood studios that put out the likes of Saw?
I'd personally rather see a girl flirting with a pig than someone being tortured to death, but clearly my values are in the wrong place.
"Last time I looked Saw and it's ilk had an 18 rating, so hardly being thrown at children?
How easily children might have access to adult entertainment is another question."
Ok: So watching people get tortured for two hours is socially acceptable entertainment, so long as you're not a child.
Sounds legit!
I know of no one that views Saw as "socially acceptable entertainment" and I know some really sick f*cks.
The fact that it exists only means that it's legal to produce. Based on that, there's nothing you can really imply regarding it's level of social acceptance.
"I know of no one that views Saw as "socially acceptable entertainment" and I know some really sick f*cks.
The fact that it exists only means that it's legal to produce. Based on that, there's nothing you can really imply regarding it's level of social acceptance."
I think the fact that there was enough money to be made by a major studio to produce SEVEN films in the franchise implies an awful lot about its level of social acceptance. These aren't straight-to-DVD releases. The earlier films made a big impact at the box office. Personally I'd rather do pretty much anything else other than watch such crap, but clearly a large section of society enjoys watching people being tortured and is willing to pay for it.
As regards the sick-fuck-o-meter, Saw sadly barely registers on the scale next to the likes of A Serbian Film.
We look back with disgust at the idea of Romans crowding in to watch people stab each other with swords, but I don't think we're far from it with the likes of such films.
As overheard in GameStop...
Employee: "I'm sorry, but we can't sell you this game without a parent's permission. It's rated M for 'mature'."
Prepubescent kid: "I've got my cousin here!"
Employee: "I'm sorry, but the answer is still no."
Kid: "But my parents let me watch Saw!"
I think those one million moms should be more concerned with the other hundred million in the country than what a commercial suggests might otherwise happen with a talking pig that drives a car.
It's a front group for the America Family Association who are proactive in taking offence at everything which does not conform with their far right Christian outlook. In other countries they could be ignored, or laughed at (as they are here). For some reason in the US, these people hold views which are taken seriously.
A million moms may only be 1-2% of the moms in USA, but they are organised and that is what makes them reasonably influential. The remaning 98% who are not offended say nothing so their voice is not heard.
One of these people told me what he and his organisation does. Every month, his wife buys Penthouse, Playboy etc magazines. She then cuts out the nude girls and passes the rest of the magazine to him. He then compiles a list of all the advertisers in the magazines and sends out an email to his group of a few hundred comrades. They all then post letters to the advertisers saying that they will not buy from them because they advertise in offensive magazines.
OK, so I'll make an ungenerous assumption about why *she* cuts out all the nude girls, but that still leaves me wondering why *he* compiles the list of advertisers. (IT angle: given that he can't start compiling the list until the magazine has been made safe, the process is strictly serialised, so they can't even claim it is more efficient this way.)
"For some reason in the US, these people hold views which are taken seriously."
These people would certainly like you to believe that they are taken seriously, but they are probably responsible for the under-performance of the Republicans in recent years. I'm sure Barack Obama reckons Sarah Palin was a gift from God. Like terrorists, there are probably fewer of them than they'd like you to believe.
Having never seen the gecko adverts, I can't possibly comment on their artistic merit. However, I'm willing to bet that it's about a million times better than (not even dignifying them with a name) having an opera singer as their mascot, then trying to make up for it by repeatedly killing him.
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