Easily offended? Look away now…

Maybe I’m getting old; maybe I’m already Victor Meldrew, but I’m finding it very hard to get excited about anything this
week.
The Facebook IPO? Bah, no shares, you see. Marketing’s Power 100? Never heard of half of them. And even the new England team. What’s the point, we’ll lose the first game, draw the second and then face a nail-biting wait to see if we can qualify by beating some part-time posties.
The thing is, this week I’ve been too busy spitting feathers – an entire feather boa, to be precise – to think about anything else.
Because these days, it seems, you can’t even run an ad featuring a few trannies without upsetting someone.
I am, of course, referring to the recent ASA decision to ban a Paddy Power ad promoting Cheltenham Ladies’ Day, which, ‘shock horror’, showed a few blokes dressed up women and then had a bit of laugh about it.
Now at the risk of upsetting the cross-dressers amongst you – now’s your chance to get back in the closet – what exactly is wrong with this ad?
After all, they even checked it with the transgender support group The Beaumont Society. Funny thing is, I saw they even changed their minds once the ad was aired. Typical women…
But, dear readers, if you want truly offensive advertising you should look no further than the Manhattan Bar in Stoke on Trent, which ran a Facebook promotion for a Friday night, er, “special”.
Under the headline: “Can you Cum Twice on a Friday?” – classily written in a special jism-style font – it offered that “whatever you buy b4 midnight we’ll give you free when you come again”… Of course this was accompanied by a picture of a girl, “cumming again” by the looks of it.
Apparently, The Manhattan Bar did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries – they were all probably too busy “cumming again”, so to speak – prompting the watchdog to express serious concern over the lack of apparent disregard for the Advertising Code.
The Manhattan Bar is a pretty lively spot, according to Staffordshire police, who recently dubbed it “one of the worst” in Stoke city centre. Mind you, have you ever been to Stoke? Poor things need some cheering up…

Follow my niece Busty Idol on Twitter @BustyIdol

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