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Are Singaporeans making a mountain out of a molehill?
A reader has written in to The Straits Times (ST) Forum pages questioning the fuss over Abercrombie & Fitch's giant advertisement.
Singapore's regulatory watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS), had seen fit to classify the ad as indecent.
The short two-paragraph letter, published today, pointed instead to a poster promoting a local waxing and beauty firm.
Mr Anand A. Vathiyar asked of the regulatory body: "Would ASAS care to assess a truly obscene poster advertising a local firm specialising in beauty and waxing?
He said the "vulgar visual of the poster", commissioned by the company Strip: Ministry of Waxing, is plastered in malls, on lamp posts and as street buntings.
He added: "One cannot fail to see it at The Cathay building and on lamp posts around Great World City, to name two of the places."
In a separate ST report, the advertising watchdog defended its move in the face of online allegations of double standards.
The report mentioned that users on online forums have questioned why ASAS has not suspended lingerie ads with semi-nude models in public areas such as bus stops and shopfronts.
ASAS chairman Tan Sze Wee told the paper that the ad was big, placed in a prominent location and exposed too much of the body.
The Media Development Authority supported ASAS' decision, the report said. Its director of content and standards Amy Chua said the body has played a role in "promoting a high standard of ethics in advertising".
Mr Baey Yam Keng, MP for Tampines GRC, told the paper that he did not find the ad offensive.
The managing director of public relations firm Hill & Knowlton felt that the code of advertising practice drawn up by the ASAS could have been clearer.
No doubt, there is a grey area.
The deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Information, Communication and the Arts said in the report: "If the issue is the size, location and amount of exposure of the ad, then what size is okay?
"How do they ascertain the amount of exposure?"
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