"Roll"-in With The Homies...

Sean's Top List of Why He Loves The End Of The Year/Start Of The New Year

-It's (kinda) winter, which means layering, which means multiple outfit options.

-In those outfits, I get to break out my $8 Target flannel button-ups.

-Being able to put 30 pounds of blankets, plus my heated mattress pad on high when I dream sweet dreams. 

-The smell of cinnamon for some reason intensifies and just smells like magic and hope.

But one of my favorite things around this time of the year are all the lists of "Top ____ of 20__" that everyone comes out with. They're like mini scrapbooks about extremely specific subjects that make you look back and say, "Ah, 2011, remember when the baby names Emma and Mason were just SOOOOOOO hot?"

As I was looking though these lists, I found one that really caught my eye and I needed to share. The Advertising Standards Bureau listed the 10 most complained ads in Australia in 2011. Below are some print ads in the list, along with how many complaints they received. Let's take a look, shall we?

I mean...wow. There it is people, the most complained about ad in Australia isn't a woman in front of the word "Sex" with some strategically placed duct tape, and it's not three women eager to use their tools in a ménage à trois (or would it be a foursome? Is the person reading the ad included? Oh, the mysteries in life). Nope, by a landslide, the most complained ad is of two men, fully clothed, hugging, and one is holding a condom cause protection is the bees knees.

Now, I remember my Aussie mate Matthew telling me about this "Rip and Roll" ad a while back, and it just shocked me that people were so offended by it. Apparently, it was the whole uproar was started by The Australian Christian Lobby (surprise, surprise) and all 45 bus posters were taken down by Adshel, the company that owns the ad spaces. Check out the video below (note: this was before the complaints were dismissed and ads were put back up):

I mean, how is this offensive? If anything, it's an extremely positive ad promoting safe sex. This is just a perfect example of how some people can be so ignorant and go right for the "TWO GAY GUYS AHHHHHHHHHHH!" complaint, vs seeing the ad for what it's promoting. But the fact that the number of complaints the print version has is almost three times...yes...THREE TIMES the about of complaints the second most complained ad has, now that's just utterly ridiculous. 

But "halleloo" for the Advertising Standards Bureau, who dismissed the complaints and released this statement:

"The Advertising Standards Board dismissed complaints about the ad as it was strongly in favour of the important health message the advertisement portrays... It considered that while some members of the community would prefer not to see this issue advertised, the public health message overrides any social sensitivity." 

Ridiculous...absurd...but good for the Advertising Standards Bureau for sticking to their guns and seeing the ad as a positive message. Once again, let's hope that people will be able to get past their "Gay people are bad" filter and accept that we're here...and not going anywhere.

And that's the end of that.  Now if you excuse me, I have cinnamon candle fumes to enjoy...