MILAN – Oliviero Toscani's latest shocking advertising campaign – six by three metre billboards portraying two men kissing and touching each other at the height of their private parts – has ended up in the crosshairs of the Control Committee of the Institute of Advertising Self-Discipline (IAP), which banned the continued posting of the poster. Toscani reacted with evident irritation to this measure: ""Enough! These blockades again. The IAP has no power to block an advertising campaign: they're just a corporation. When the ordinary justice system stops me, I'll stop. No judge has ever summoned me."".
""They can't block anything," Toscani added. "Do you know why they're with me? Because investors know that if I do something, everyone will talk about it, and that will ruin the market. And what do they want to block anyway? The Re-Re campaign is now well and truly over.".
The posters, already displayed in early September, had sparked protests from many residents, prompting the Committee's intervention. It ordered, not the removal of the existing posters—which advertise Ra-re, a men's clothing company—but a halt to any further postings.
‘The injunction was issued on September 14, but only took effect ten days later. The text of the order was subsequently published online, on the IAP website."‘vulgar and provocative ostentation of situations related to sexual intimacy – the text reads – leads communication to descend into an unacceptable offense to public sensitivity".
The messages, the text continues, "in addition to disturbing an adult audience, may also attract the attention of minors who lack the tools to understand the images, causing them anxiety and discomfort." And then there is "the clear incongruity between the advertising communication with purely commercial purposes and the images disseminated.".
""Far from wanting to encourage a serious and correct approach to the issue of sexual equality," the text concludes, "the messages aim solely to capture the public's attention at all costs, disturbing their sensibilities through vulgar representations tout court.".
""This is neither censorship nor discrimination against homosexuals," they explained to the IAP, "but simply a matter of protecting the sensibilities of citizens, especially minors. If it had been heterosexuals it would have been the same.".
The IAP includes companies that invest in advertising, professional organizations in the sector, and the media that distribute advertising. All entities have adopted a self-regulatory code.