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Old 27th December 2007, 08:40 AM   #1
Jaggy Bunnet
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Advert banned for being truthful

I have a hard time understanding this - it is OK to say that Santa (or more accurately Father Frost) exists, even though this must contradict what most parents/teachers tell their kids but it is a breach of advertising rules to suggest he doesn't exist because that suggests that parents are not telling the truth, and the fact that they aren't telling the truth is apparently not a sufficient reason to suggest they aren't telling the truth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7161468.stm
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Old 27th December 2007, 08:55 AM   #2
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So, that's what is meant by "truth in advertising".....
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Old 27th December 2007, 09:00 AM   #3
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It's Russia. They're not exactly the model on which free speech is based.
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Old 27th December 2007, 09:07 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Loss Leader View Post
It's Russia. They're not exactly the model on which free speech is based.

And if this were Russia, you'd have been banned for posting that.

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Old 27th December 2007, 12:28 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Loss Leader View Post
It's Russia. They're not exactly the model on which free speech is based.





Hrm...that's kinda fun.
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Old 27th December 2007, 12:53 PM   #6
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I would think that such a commercial would be really, really bad PR. I still would be highly ticked if it were banned in my country.
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Old 27th December 2007, 12:56 PM   #7
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In post-Soviet Russia, Santa decides that YOU don't exist.
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Old 27th December 2007, 01:14 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by CFLarsen View Post
So, that's what is meant by "truth in advertising".....
The laws governing the press in GB are quite different from those in the US.

In the US, anyone stupid enough to take out an ad telling little kids that Santa does not exist (why on earth would you do this?) would have a very hard time finding any major venue willing to take any amount of money to publish same.

Why?

Simple economics: most of their other advertisers would leave them entirely, or at least for some time.

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Old 27th December 2007, 01:14 PM   #9
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NPR did a piece a couple of weeks ago where some high school students went around asking their friends how and when they learned that Santa wasn't real. They gave a warning before the piece that if little kids were present the parents perhaps would want to turn the sound off, but they wound up getting a bunch of hate mail castigating them for airing such an article. Apparently no one believed they would really do such a dastardly thing.
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Old 27th December 2007, 01:15 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by juniper_ann View Post
I would think that such a commercial would be really, really bad PR. I still would be highly ticked if it were banned in my country.
I am always amused by people's misunderstanding of words like "banned" and "censorhip."

Did the government ban this ad? If so, that's censorship. If the publication said no thanks, that's a business decision (a wise one, would be my guess).

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Old 27th December 2007, 01:42 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Tokenconservative View Post
I am always amused by people's misunderstanding of words like "banned" and "censorhip."

Did the government ban this ad? If so, that's censorship. If the publication said no thanks, that's a business decision (a wise one, would be my guess).

Tokie
Why don't you read the article and find out?
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Old 27th December 2007, 02:12 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by Kiosk View Post
In post-Soviet Russia, Santa decides that YOU don't exist.

Wait, so Putin is Santa? Is there anything that guy can't do?
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Old 27th December 2007, 03:19 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by Jaggy Bunnet View Post
I have a hard time understanding this - it is OK to say that Santa (or more accurately Father Frost) exists, even though this must contradict what most parents/teachers tell their kids but it is a breach of advertising rules to suggest he doesn't exist because that suggests that parents are not telling the truth, and the fact that they aren't telling the truth is apparently not a sufficient reason to suggest they aren't telling the truth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7161468.stm
As long as they don't say anything stupid like that about the Hogfather....................
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Old 27th December 2007, 03:45 PM   #14
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Ah, the naughty and the nice. Be careful you may find coal in your stocking next year, which of course may not be a bad thing if you happen to have a coal burning stove. In that case be as naughty as you please.

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Old 27th December 2007, 03:54 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by The Man View Post
Ah, the naughty and the nice. Be careful you may find coal in your stocking next year, which of course may not be a bad thing if you happen to have a coal burning stove. In that case be as naughty as you please.

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Coal in your stocking a good thing?
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Old 27th December 2007, 04:53 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by Tokenconservative View Post
I am always amused by people's misunderstanding of words like "banned" and "censorhip."

Did the government ban this ad? If so, that's censorship. If the publication said no thanks, that's a business decision (a wise one, would be my guess).

Tokie
The first sentence of the article:
"The Russian government has banned a television advertisement for denying the existence of Father Christmas."
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Old 27th December 2007, 04:53 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by Tokenconservative View Post
I am always amused by people's misunderstanding of words like "banned" and "censorhip."

Did the government ban this ad? If so, that's censorship. If the publication said no thanks, that's a business decision (a wise one, would be my guess).
What is your point? That there are two ways of suppressing truth? The good one (business) and the bad one (government)?
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Old 27th December 2007, 06:36 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by dann View Post
What is your point? That there are two ways of suppressing truth? The good one (business) and the bad one (government)?
yes.
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Old 27th December 2007, 06:57 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by juniper_ann View Post
The first sentence of the article:
"The Russian government has banned a television advertisement for denying the existence of Father Christmas."
Heh. What a twerp, that guy.
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Old 27th December 2007, 07:08 PM   #20
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Originally Posted by Tokenconservative View Post
The laws governing the press in GB are quite different from those in the US.

In the US, anyone stupid enough to take out an ad telling little kids that Santa does not exist (why on earth would you do this?) would have a very hard time finding any major venue willing to take any amount of money to publish same.

Why?

Simple economics: most of their other advertisers would leave them entirely, or at least for some time.

Tokie
Proof positive that Tokie does not follow any of the links he is given but posts whatever is on his "mind" anyway.

Hint to Tokie -- the story is from Russia.

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Old 27th December 2007, 08:35 PM   #21
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Advert banned for being truthful

That thread title had me wondering if I'd ever seen an "Advert" post in the forums.
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Old 28th December 2007, 06:43 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by dann View Post
What is your point? That there are two ways of suppressing truth? The good one (business) and the bad one (government)?
The good one says 'I refuse to let you show this on my tv channel'.
The bad one says 'I refuse to let you show this on any tv channel'.

Can you spot the difference?
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Old 29th December 2007, 08:28 AM   #23
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Think of the government as a big business that just happens to own all of the TV channels.

What's the difference, then?
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Old 29th December 2007, 08:38 AM   #24
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Originally Posted by Denial View Post
Why don't you read the article and find out?
Tokie doesn't believe in links.

Tools of them darn libruuls.
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Old 29th December 2007, 10:40 AM   #25
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Originally Posted by 69dodge View Post
Think of the government as a big business that just happens to own all of the TV channels.

What's the difference, then?

The difference then is illogical thinking.
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Old 29th December 2007, 11:12 AM   #26
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Very telling that Yuri Gagarin said he saw no God or angels up there.
What he didn't say ...

http://www.mazaika.com/postcard/aerospace0.htm

Father Frost exists and is a hero of the Soviet space program.

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Old 2nd January 2008, 12:17 PM   #27
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Originally Posted by Tokenconservative View Post
The laws governing the press in GB are quite different from those in the US.
You guys can't even bother to properly shorten "advertisement" to just "ad".
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Old 4th January 2008, 11:50 AM   #28
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Originally Posted by 69dodge View Post
Think of the government as a big business that just happens to own all of the TV channels.

What's the difference, then?
The difference is that government isn't a big business. Businesses have to aquire things by creating them or by the creators consenting to give it to them. Governments just take things by force. Which leads to the next big difference, if you didn't like the restrictions placed on TV, you could just create another way to broadcast video and use that to your heart content. However, in the government scenerio, they would just take your new creation as well.
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Old 5th January 2008, 01:12 PM   #29
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Nobody created the electromagnetic spectrum. It's just there. So who should have the right to use it for broadcasting, or to sell it to someone else to use?
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Old 6th January 2008, 02:45 AM   #30
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Originally Posted by 69dodge View Post
Nobody created the electromagnetic spectrum. It's just there. So who should have the right to use it for broadcasting, or to sell it to someone else to use?
It's just there, but it's not useful to humans without human intervention. That's like saying we shouldn't allow bottle water companies to sell their water because they didn't "create" the water.
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Old 7th January 2008, 04:05 PM   #31
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Originally Posted by 69dodge View Post
Nobody created the electromagnetic spectrum. It's just there. So who should have the right to use it for broadcasting, or to sell it to someone else to use?

But that's the point with out regulations and control it would just be a messy battlefield with broadcasters not only competing for market share but for bandwidth as well. With one trying to overpower the signal of another and only the most powerful would get through. For most it would just be a useless mess. It is incumbent on all people and thus their representatives (the government) to ensure control, regulate the use and hopefully regain some operating expresses.


Originally Posted by CaptainManacles View Post
It's just there, but it's not useful to humans without human intervention. That's like saying we shouldn't allow bottle water companies to sell their water because they didn't "create" the water.

Who must intervene between me and some object in order for me to use the electromagnetic spectrum to see it that object? Use of the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is not as regulated now as it may need to be in the future. Imagine when (and it might not be far away with some serious human intervention) an advertisement could be beamed directly onto the retina of a passer by.
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