You decide...

[POWdER-man]

Watch this commercial...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jMdelLmvUf0
Then read this article...
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe.../thomas_pillow_070404/20070404?hub=TopStories

Blue Jay slugger's pillow fight ad strikes out
Updated Wed. Apr. 4 2007 2:30 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A new commercial that depicts Blue Jays slugger Frank Thomas smacking a child with a pillow has caused consternation among viewers and regulatory bodies alike, but the ball club is at a loss as to why.

The original version of the commercial depicts two boys bouncing up and down on a bed while having a pillow fight.

The 6-foot-5, 275-pound Thomas then enters the room and says "Hey, you guys are supposed to be in bed."

One of the boys then smacks Thomas with a pillow.

He responds: "Oh yeah?" grabs the pillow, winds up, and lets fly a home run-worthy swing, knocking the boy off the bed and onto the floor.

Thomas then bounds out of the room with a satisfied look on his face. The boy pops back up with a shocked expression and says "wow."

The ad was intended to be one of a series promoting the Jays' 2007 season which opened on Monday, with a victory on the road against the Detroit Tigers.

As it turns out, the original version will only run on the CBC, which as a public broadcaster has the right to set its own standards.

Other networks running the ads will show an edited version that doesn't show the child being knocked to the floor, after the Television Bureau of Canada ruled it was inappropriate.

Laurel Lindsay, the Toronto Blue Jays' vice-president of marketing, told CTV.ca she was surprised by the TBC's ruling that the part showing Thomas striking the boy had to be cut out.

"I certainly respect the role of a telecaster in permitting ads to go to air," Lindsay said. "I certainly respect the process. But we were caught off guard by a pillow fight somehow being deemed aggressive or the child being put in harm's way."

She said the club tried to avoid any negative backlash to the commercial.

"We took precautionary measures, especially having the child pop up at the end to say "wow" and marvel at Frank's ability, to ensure we showed the audience at home it was all done in good faith. Frank smiles. It was meant truly as a pillow fight."

Top officials at the TBC refused on Tuesday to comment on the decision to block the commercial.

Jim Patterson, the president and chief executive officer of the TBC, told The Globe and Mail the discussions were private and the situation was eventually resolved because the ad was ultimately approved.

The TBC's guidelines warn that commercials incorporating acts of violence, even those intended to be comedic, could be found to be inappropriate.

Tony Ciccia, vice-president and brand director for Publicis Toronto, the company that made the ad, said the ruling was "ridiculous."

"The Jays are a family-friendly organization to say the least. From our perspective, we did a funny spot that really shows the guys want to win. The children were actors and all the appropriate measures were taken to make sure everybody was safe," he told The Globe.

Thomas himself said he made sure there were lots of smiles in the ad because he didn't want people to get the idea he is a violent person.

The Blue Jays star has three children of his own and said he was shocked by the reaction.

Lindsay said the commercials are simply meant to showcase the players' abilities in a humorous way.

"I think that we are taking ourselves a little too seriously to suggest a pillow fight is anything more than just that, a pillow fight," she said.

I thought the commercial was funny as hell with that bit....without it I think Frank Thomas' acting makes it creepy......Michael Jackson creepy....

 

[Master Chief]

People are waaaay too sensitive.

 

[Abaddon]

they're being ridiculous. The commercial is funny and harmless.

 

[POWdER-man]

Notch one up for unjustifyable censorship.....

 

[POWdER-man]

Another day, another banned commercial...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=srHGHWO4fro
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=d16449f1-a8c4-45f2-ac43-923fe63868bc&k=9217

Controversial Dairy Queen ads set to expire
Ads which angered Neuts family will end on Sunday
By Craig Pearson, Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Dairy Queen announced Tuesday that it will let its controversial ads featuring kids hanging on hooks expire, one day before local MPs planned to call for a boycott of the American ice cream company.

The Kit Kat Blizzard commercials — which upset the family of Myles Neuts, the 10-year-old boy who died after being hung on a hook at a Chatham elementary school in 1998 — will stop airing in Canada on Sunday. The company said the ads have already stopped running in the United States.

“Dairy Queen Canada understands that some in the Chatham area were uncomfortable with the content of this ad, as a result of a tragedy in that community several years ago,” the company statement reads. “We feel great sympathy for those who were touched by this tragedy and empathize with the difficult recovery that the family and community have gone through. Because of their concern, the ad had already been pulled from Canadian television stations in Southwestern Ontario.”

Mike Neuts, father of Myles, said while Dairy Queen should have pulled the ads sooner, he’s pleased the commercials will soon stop airing.

“I’m happy that they pulled it,” Neuts said. “I hope they think about their advertising in the future.”

Neuts said he still plans to lobby for legislation or regulation which provides for reviews of controversial commercials.

“If they can pull a Toronto Blue Jays ad with Frank Thomas in a pillow fight (knocking a child off a bed), there’s no way that a depiction of a young boy hanging on a hook should have been allowed,” Neuts said. “It’s just ludicrous.”

Windsor MP Joe Comartin, who along with fellow Windsor NDP MP Brian Masse had planned to issue a call to boycott dairy Queen, said he will still go ahead with this morning’s news conference.

Comartin said many families across North America will breathe easier hearing that the ads have stopped.

But he’s not yet sure whether he will still urge a boycott, since he still has a few questions for Dairy Queen. He wants assurance that the ads will never run in the future and he would like to know why they will continue airing for five more days in Canada if they have already stopped running in the U.S.

“We also want some kind of response from Dairy Queen,” Comartin said. “We want an apology. They have only issued a quasi-apology. It seems almost like a reluctant one.

“And we’re looking for some kind of contribution from Dairy Queen to our fight against bullying, as a way of compensation for these ads which have run for almost a month.”

Dairy Queen Canada vice-president of marketing Denise Hutton said though she doesn’t know for certain whether the ad will run in the future, she considers it highly unlikely.

She said the ad will run longer in Canada because the campaign started two weeks earlier in the U.S. She also said though Dairy Queen sympathizes with anybody hurt by the commerical, the company did not pull the ad because of complaints.

“It has run its natural course in the U.S., as it will in Canada,” she said. “It’s being stopped because that’s when it’s scheduled to end.”

 

[Sloth7d]

But I love that DQ commercial.

 

[Halcohol]

Give me a break. This is beyond stupid. It's beyond ridiculous. It's quite clearly ludicrous.

 

[POWdER-man]

But I love that DQ commercial.

The screaming is freakin' annoying, but I thought it was a harmless commercial....I am still pissed they pulled the Frank Thomas one....that one makes me laugh everytime....

 

[POWdER-man]

Another one.....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Lwn7KimEosQ

Come on, leave Big John alone......... what's wrong with a well known alcoholic holding a beer, singing in a bar, and for some odd reason hitting a golf ball on top of beer can?

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2007-04-24-hiestand-daly_N.htm?csp=34
Golf ball ad with Daly, alcohol leaves bad taste
Rules prevent John Daly from using a golf cart on the PGA Tour. CBS has prevented Daly's use of a golf cart while carrying a beer by banning a TV commercial for manufacturer Maxfli.

By Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY
There's a certain logic to making edgy ads networks will refuse to carry, especially if you're trying to wake up a sleepy brand.
You get publicity from being banned.

That presumably drives viewers to your website to see what they have to be protected against. And you don't have to spend much.

But Maxfli might pay a price for an ad campaign starring an active athlete, who probably has the sports world's best-known problem with alcohol, cavorting about in an on-air atmosphere as boozy as any beer ad — to sell golf balls, of all things.

In a sort of music video parody, golfer John Daly — who had two major titles and two trips to alcohol rehab before turning 30 — is seen whizzing around a golf cart and grabbing a beer out of a guy's mouth. He also plays guitar and sings "go long or go home" to hype the new Maxfli Fire ball billed as delivering "mind-blowing ball speed" in a rowdy bar, where we see a woman's undergarments thrown at him in appreciation.

Actually, the whole thing would be funny if, say, Vijay Singh or Davis Love III — how about Jim Nantz? — had been cast as the ad's lead libertine. But it isn't with Daly, who's been quite open about his alcohol-related problems.

CBS refuses to air the ad, spokeswoman LeslieAnne Wade says, because it violates network guidelines prohibiting ads "with direct, or implied, excessive consumption of alcohol," especially when an ad also "involves hazardous activity."

OK, fine: Now we can all go to maxfli.com to check out the video just like the marketing master plan intended.

There you can find the ad's 90-second "uncut" version, where a woman in the bar appears to lift her blouse to flash Daly, who's also seen doing a semi-wheelie in a golf cart. Talk about hijinks!

Except that wasn't the plan, Maxfli senior director of marketing Bob Maggiore says: "We were shocked CBS drew those conclusions. They were looking through the wrong lens — it was never intended to be any of that. … It's like this came out of left field."

Still, he is drinking behind the wheel.

"But he's in a golf cart," Maggiore says. "And if operating a golf cart like that was a crime, police could find plenty of easy sobriety checkpoints at 10th greens."

Don't laugh. We might see those when the Baby Boomers all hit retirement.

Michael Mark, creative director-CEO of San Diego-based NYCA Advertising, which made the Maxfli ad, says CBS' view is "completely outdated. I understand the sensitivity of the world now. But this is life. Beer is part of golf."

In case you don't happen to know golf rules, you should know that Mark isn't being literal.

"There's 19 holes in golf," he says. "They have golf cart girls (dispensing beer) in everyday golf. … And you don't see the guy guzzling a keg."

You can go to maxfli.com to see a keg in the living room of the home described as Daly's RV.

Maxfli, Mark says, is a "historic" brand, whose endorsers included Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman, that's "become less relevant to golfers" that needed to be repositioned with a "rebel" Daly. "You watch Tiger Woods. Who looks like him? Nobody. But showing Daly just as he is, that's going to grow the game of golf. It's almost like reality TV. This is reality commercials."

The Golf Channel, whose Daly Planet reality show last year followed Daly and included his drinking — "but our producers used discretion," spokesman Dan Higgins says — has already aired the Maxfli ad.

Says Higgins: "Although the spot passed our criteria and our mature audience is more familiar with John Daly as one of golf's larger-than-life characters, we're sensitive to the issues at hand and are looking into other viable options to running the commercial."

Maxfli, adman Mark says, would like to air the ad on NBC.

NBC's Brian Walker said Tuesday, "We can't comment on an ad that hasn't been submitted."

Many viewers might see Daly as the golf pro they'd most like to hang out with. But casting him to co-star with beer to sell stuff seems as odd as putting Alec Baldwin in any new ad for fancy voice-mail service.

 

[Ghostvirus]

Fascism is quite the style these days.

 

[Manic]

I'll take things a step further, and say that DQ commercial should've ended with the dad hanging on a hook, and the mom teasing all 3.

 

[Sloth7d]

I'll take things a step further, and say that DQ commercial should've ended with the dad hanging on a hook, and the mom teasing all 3.

lol. You know thats how I thought it would end.

 

[Showtime]

I heard about that on the radio about a month ago. The censors are way to nutty.

 

[Reptile]

I just saw that DQ commercial 10 minutes ago

 

[thedeadite]

The opinion column in my local newspaper has been filled with letters of disgust over that DQ commercial for quite some time now (Chatham is only about an hour away from me). It was horrible what happened to the Neuts family but the commercial was harmless in my opinion and the reaction to it completely overblown....as are the reactions to the others.

 

[Ongie]

***redacted***

 

[November Rain]

I think if they made the advert a lil more comical, say like having the kid knocked through the walls and out of the house into space, then it would have done less harm because people would realise that it isn't suppose to be taken realistically in any shape or form....

but to each their own, It's funny how adverts are given strict rules to abide by while the films they are put in between can pretty much do as they wish.