Posted on 01/21/2005 5:08:41 PM PST by quidnunc
Billboard adverts featuring partial nudity are being defaced by Muslim activists who are offended by displays of flesh.
The advertising watchdog has confirmed that increasing numbers of posters are being torn down or painted over in predominantly Islamic areas.
A website giving advice on how to vandalise billboards and listing potential targets has been set up by a group calling themselves Muslims Against Advertising (MAAD).
The campaign has gathered momentum since the Advertising Standards Authority banned an underwear advert from being sited near mosques.
Advertisements for perfume, hair dye, bras and television programmes are among those that have been attacked. Photographs of semi-dressed women are the most frequently targeted, with the offending body parts painted over or ripped off.
A poster advertising the Channel 4 programme Desperate Housewives is the most recent target; the images of two scantily-clad actresses have been torn from an East London billboard but three fully-dressed characters were left intact. Adverts bearing Doves Real Women adverts six ordinary women pictured in their underwear were painted over at several locations last year.
MAAD, based in Birmingham, gives an index of defaced adverts in the city, including Levis, Wonderbra, PaddyPower, a radio station and a strip club. It says on its website that it believes in direct action and has paint and isnt afraid to use it, adding: There is no longer any need to cringe as you walk past a sleazy poster, well improve it.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
That's where the Ukian people live.
go back to your imam, you need more taqiya training.
Spot On!!!
The United Kingdom is the name of the country. In earlier times it was divided up into England, Wales, Cornwall, Scotland, etc.
Stuff happened and today we have the UK.
I'm not upset but my argument stands. They should use the democratic process not crime to change billboards.
this is the one, the only, the dastardly Painter Mo, founder of MAAD, painter extraordinaire. My paint rollers are loaded, who dares stand in the way of my extendable 18 foot pole?
erm... have you guys not noticed there is a subtle satirical element on the web site? There is a "moving poem" about painting over Sohie Dahl for goodness sake, can you imagine any self respecting al-Qa'ida "poster improver" writing a poem about painting over Sophie Dahl?
Look, I was bored one day back in 2000, before sept 11th, before the Afghan war, before the Iraq war, so I put up the site. 5 years later, the times run an article about it without even bothering to email me first to check how authentic it is.
To be fair, we have improved the odd poster in our wild and feckless youth, and who can honeslty put their hand to heart and say they haven't, but hey, we think of it as a "conversation", the ad men put up a poster, and we respond to it, which is why i use the term improvement rather than vandalism, But this was all a long long time ago.
Chill out people, and have a laugh, I guess people aren't used to Muslim satire yet.
muawiyah - Speaking of women's hair, have you bothered to read any of the materials on the Internet concerning the proper use of "hair" during the performance of felatio?
You have to imagine it since there is no indication here that anyone else has taken any action opposing the ads, legally or illegally. Nor is there any indication here or on this groups website that they have sought to ally themselves with anyone else who is offended by them.
The fact remains that this group has chosen to act outside the law. From the beginning of this thread you have staunchly supported them.
You and others are the ones proposing that the mindless, heavy hand of the gendarmes be brought down on those people irrespective of their right to personal self-determination.
The nation should simply stay out of the business of standards of modesty and leave that business up to the people in their neighborhoods and towns.
Else, democratic society is not possible.
Why am I not surprised that the press took that and tried to stir up hate and dissension with it?
I suggested a reason for him.
The fellow who posts stuff from "Ask the Imam" has also touched on this subject.
Do you need more information, which can be provided if you really need it, or don't you think that we might quiet down about this subject ~ which, might I add, became topic #1 during the Clinton Regime!
Look, I think that is fine and I also think that those ads are inappropriate for public display.
You and others are the ones proposing that the mindless, heavy hand of the gendarmes be brought down on those people irrespective of their right to personal self-determination.
I have said no such thing although I do believe that vandalism is properly considered a crime and should be enforced as such. If you are suggesting that civil-disobediance is a right I would agree if redress of grievances had long been ignored. There is no indication of that here. It is melodramatic hyperbole to suggest that anyone has been deprived of self-determination as a result of these ads.
The nation should simply stay out of the business of standards of modesty and leave that business up to the people in their neighborhoods and towns. Else, democratic society is not possible.
Nonsense. democracy isn't possible without due process of law. You are confusing anarchy with democracy. The phrase "mindless, heavy hand of the gendarmes" indicates that law enforcement has no place in democracy by your definition. Crapola!
When you say "The nation should simply stay out of the business of standards of modesty" that runs diametrically opposed to your first statement which says "I've been standing up for the right of local communities to set standards." Until you can form a coherent continuitous thought on the matter you will draw richly deserved derision for the absurdities you are spewing.
I know you did. No one else equated Islamic traditions with sex or seemed to know about internet sites with instructions on hair and felatio.
Do you need more information, which can be provided if you really need it, ...
No, thank you. Please do not lead me to any porn sites.
I also want to say you are bringing in other issues to cloud the issue of this particular behavior.
My 7 year old knows better.
I had thought I was quite Jeffersonian about it all. It seems, though, I am surrounded by Whigs and Federalists who wish to ignore the most ancient customs and moral standards of the people while imposing their own straightjackets on everyone within their grasp.
The PETA folks fight against Nature. Organized in our villages and valleys we Americans should have the privilege of banning them from our midst.
I received zero emails from the Times, BBC radio 5 who had a long debate about it, Sky news, Hindustan times, the Australian "townsville bulletin news" and whoever else ran the story. Have these guys ever researched a story before? I did get an email from ITN news though, they wanted to interview me for a programme, erm... I probably wasn't what they expected.
The reports quoted me in all seriousness saying things like "all you need is a blithe spirit and a balmy night". The results from the humourless public were outraged emails, heated debates about Muslims taking over the world including you guys talking about the slide of Britain into "dhimminitude" for goodness sake, one middle aged computer hacker and part-time nudist even attacked the site with a Denial of Service attack.
The world has gone truley MAAD; but no fear, at long last after all these years, people have finally taken Billboard Impresario Painter Mo and the MAAD poster improvers seriously, the stereotypes will be smashed.
Which proves the point, nobody should take the law into their own hands and destroy things simply because it isn't agreeable to them or lacks morals. Breaking laws is not the answer to change. It gives the appearance that the opposition to the billboards are nuts. It doesn't lend anything positive to cause.
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