"The painting... presents a woman who is wearing a bikini gazing out to sea, her hands resting on her hips.... An official document from the ministry warned him: 'This way of using women’s bodies as an advertisement favours the perpetuation of discriminatory attitudes. Infringing Article 8 of the general law on advertising, which declares unlawful advertisements that present women in a degrading way by using their bodies as objects unrelated to the product they are trying to promote.'... His winery... replied to the warning... 'Whoever sees something sexual or sexist in that painting has a problem. It is an image of absolute innocence. The sun, the sea and a woman in a bikini stamped with hearts. She transmits the freshness that we wanted to radiate for our white wine.'... Sales of his wine bearing the image of a woman in a bikini have rocketed."
From "Spain orders bikini poster to be taken off pilgrimage route" (London Times).
The ministry, we're told, is run by Podemos, "a radical left-wing party."
Is the painting "an image of absolute innocence"? Here it is:
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70 comments:
Personally, I probably wouldn't have looked twice at that billboard. Compared to what's out there these days, the painting is pretty "innocent" as Alvarez says.
They can't assume it's a woman.
When looking for guidance in trick situations, I often refer back to SCOTUS.
I know it when I see it. This aint "it".
Was the artist a man?
That’s gender appropriation.
Ministry of Equality = We Get To Fuck With You Little Man
Feminism cannot co-exist with free speech and freedom of association.
We’ve now accumulated 70 years of experience demonstrating this. Time to give up the patchwork fixes and junk this evil ideology.
Intellectual debate over this is useless. Human experience is what counts.
Who wants absolute innocence in a bottle of wine? Poets have been using a bottle of wine for thousands of years to encourage women to drop their panties. The beach and the bottle of wine are the traditional prep.
I love women. I love art. Great painting.
“… They can't assume it's a woman.“
Heh!
The Ministry of Equality.
Orwell wasn't kidding.
And what the hell does any of this have to do with "equality?"
Are they going to outlaw the Spanish Riviera?
That's it? Are you kidding me? These people have too much time (and power) on their hands. I'm glad to hear there was a backlash.
Defining "absolute innocence" is even harder than defining "woman".
Ministry of Equality, what a great concept.
Infringing Article 8 of the general law on advertising, which declares unlawful advertisements that present women in a degrading way by using their bodies as objects unrelated to the product they are trying to promote.'
It's the law. A very mushy law. It all comes down to the definition of "degrading". I'd say no in this case.
There is no fun, no smiling allowed in the Leftist worldview.
And I love how they jump in as Government officials to 'take care' of the minutiae of someone else's business.
Inside every Leftist is a totalitarian screaming to get out. I wonder if a trans-woman in a bikini staring out at the sea would have met their approval?
I clicked through to the source looking for the woman...I thought that image was typical wine abstract art. On first glance it reads as simple Blocky patches of colors.
Beware the Streisand effect. Some people in Las Vegas had 'issues' with billboards showing a bunch of women's butts for the Crazy Girls live review. So, the billboard was ultimately transformed into a touchable 3D bronze sculpture as high art.
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/14103
I bet that this winery laughs all the way to the bank.
Makes me glad I don’t live in Spain.
"A very mushy law."
The best kind. Such laws can be enforced selectively to demonstrate power over the citizenry, with great discretion as to who gets smacked. And who can argue with "equality?"
Women have bodies. Sadly, even Spain has Puritans.
“The Ministry of Equality.
Orwell wasn't kidding. “
Orwell would be the Ministry of Truth. The correct reference would be to Harrison Bergeron.
He's got the right attitude as for how to deal with these busybodies. The exchange reminds me of a passage I read a while back from a prosecutor discussing the difference between innocent pictures of children and child pornography. The gist if it was, if the prosecutor got sexually aroused, then it's pornography.
It was gross and left me feeling that to get a handle on child pornography, we need to arrest all the prosecutors; get them off the streets and away from our children.
I assume something is being lost in translation. Nevertheless, what a joke. Fuck Spain.
When Diana was still Princess of Wales she went swimming wearing less than that.
I don't think the picture is one of absolute innocence. She's young, attractive, and wearing little. I do, however, think the picture is harmless. And I certainly value a culture of free speech more than the feelings of whatever prudes might object.
Pour me an innocent glass, please.
Young women showing their attractive female curves is a clear and present danger to the Depopulation Cults that hate the human race increasing on their earth. Next thing you know their men will decide to possess guns to protect their women and children from Marxist murderers.
I Use Computers to Write Words said...She's young, attractive, and wearing little.
I've been to Spain. Compared to what you can see on the beaches there, she's over-dressed.
I agree that "innocence" is not the word that comes to mind, but there's nothing particularly sexual about it. Which is what seems to matter.
Incels hardest hit.
You've focused on the wine label, which is innocuous, but the article title refers to the pilgrimage route. Since I can't pass the paywall, I don't know the specifics. I'm more interested in the billboard placement than the painting, though.
This is a lot like the Elk thread above.
The leftist herd is getting out of control and starting to cause problems for decent people.
It's a woman in a swimsuit that's been commonly worn by all kinds of women for around three-quarters of a century.
Your interpretation of the image says more about you than the image.
Saint Croix @ 5:58: nailed it.
En Español como se dices “Blow it out your nether aperture”?
Wait the Ministry is run by “radical left wing”… puritans? This is why I spent 99% of my time in Spain way up in the corner in San Sebastián (Dostia in Basque). It’s beautiful and laid back despite being the most productive region (we had a factory in Irún nearby and you can pop over to France easily for a change of scenery.
How many pilgrims ply this alleged route I wonder.
Reminds me of the Coppertone ad.
A better response...
Dear Ministry of Equality, our artist (Senor rhhardin - let that name sink in for a moment) suggests you consider the possibility that his image is in fact someone who has been freed to transition into whatever vision of beauty one wishes. Much like our wine does, if only for a moment. The ultimate image of "equality", no?
help me out..
HOW is this Ministry Order different from a Principal telling a cute redhead NO miniskirts at school?
They don't have this problem in Iran.
I wonder if Sitges is still a topless beach south of Barcelona?
It doesnt translate yes its a little rissue like raquel welchs intro in fathom
How many pilgrims ply this alleged route I wonder.
And does this wine go good with turkey?
"present women in a degrading way by using their bodies as objects unrelated to the product they are trying to promote"
Does this also apply to men? If not, how does this fit EU anti-discrimination and equality laws?
Does this apply to all advertisements? If so, are they going after, oh, 50% of ads that feature bodies not related to the product as such?
Does the unrelatedness make the presentation automatically degrading? If so, why?
But of course, such questions are a little beside the point. What we have here is another assertion of prog rule.
'The ministry, we're told, is run by Podemos, "a radical left-wing party."'
Lefties usually love to whine...
The patterns of Western art since prehistory suggest absolute innocence is commonly represented by nudity. Consequently, the advertising art misses the innocence mark by a factor approximately equal to the area of the bikini.
Javier Álverez's real problem is the statistically significant proportion of morbidly obese women in the Podemos party. What galls them isn't the wine or the label or the billboard, it's the laws of human metabolic physiology. It's the eclair or the bikini, girls, not both. Not in this spacetime continuum, at least.
A pilgrimage without temptation along the way is just a hike.
Is this the same Spanish government that launched this campaign six months ago:
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/spain-beach-body-campaign-intl-scli/index.html
Spain's message:
If a bikini-clad female body is grossly overweight and/or hideously ugly, show it off! Fat acceptance! Body positivity!
If a bikini-clad female body is slender and pretty, that's sexism, and the image must be extirpated.
Yes, Sitges is still largely topless, and also predominantly a destination for gay men. My elderly parents used to love going there on holiday. They played bridge with the fella's, and won quite handily. It's a lovely town.
It does seem "retro." The "innocence" of old ads and pin-ups annoys many feminists today because to them it suggests women's unthinking compliance and submission to male desires. I can see that banning it is part of a humorless and dictatorial New Puritanism, but I have too much sympathy with the Old Puritanism to get very indignant about it.
Spain really has its work cut out for itself. Pictures of naked ladies in all sorts of poses, in positions that wives and girlfriends simply refuse, might find their way onto the internet.
Personally, I favor burkas.
There's nothing sexual or prurient in that image.
People need to get ahold of themselves, or, if those in power prove themselves unable to do so, others need to bring back the art of tarring and feathering, or at least a good beatdown in an urban parking lot after dark by a group of silent stevedores, for maximum effect.
Oops I misspelled Donostía earlier as Dostía. I regret the error.
It’s an implied nice ass. Can’t have that hinted at on a billboard!
Blogger Temujin said...
There is no fun, no smiling allowed in the Leftist worldview.
Exactly ! Babylon Bee and LibsofTikTok cannot be allowed. Dean Wormer would agree.
Dean Vernon Wormer : You're not walking out of this one, mister! You're finished! No more Delta! You've bought it this time, buster! I will call your national office! I will revoke your charter! And if you wise guys try one more thing, I am kicking you out of this college! No more fun of any kind!
Reminds me of the ad for a lager depicting two rhinos humping with the line:
Research Says Sex Sells Beer
'The ministry, we're told, is run by Podemos, "a radical left-wing party."'
"Podemos" translates to "we can." Apparently also means "you can't."
Return of the repressed--Islam and its antihuman ideological fixations in a new guise.
Blogger Quaestor said...
A pilgrimage without temptation along the way is just a hike.
I like this... except it's really
a trek, wordboy. your scale is off
The ministry, we're told, is run by Podemos, "a radical left-wing party."
"Podemos" means "We can", "We are able". Or "We have the power".
Curvaceous, not explicit. The feminine figure is not so young nor so old and certainly not a Slut walking.
Replace the woman with an O'Keefe floral arrangement, wearing bikinis if the Ministry still objects.
"I like this... except it's really a trek, wordboy. your scale is off"
Hike is better. Today, I'm avoiding words with racist connotations.
Ponder that one.
Now we know the origin of the word "buttinsky."
I wonder if the context of this being along the Camino de Santiago, (the Way of Saint James (a very popular Christian pilgrimage route) isn't being missed by some. Perhaps that doesn't change anyone's opinion, but it may be a consideration.
fwiw, I don't find anything problematic with the ad, but to Europeans/Christians making a Holy pilgrimage it may be unwelcome.
Quaestor said...
"A pilgrimage without temptation along the way is just a hike."
The Santiago de Compostela.
I know several people who have taken this pilgrimage. Like typical moneyed Americans they are driven to the start of the road from their hotel. Never a hostel because those are for the common pilgrims. They leave their packs with their driver. At the end of the days trek they are picked up and driven to their preferred hotel. More of a tour than a pilgrimage.
So I'm guessing this is totally out of bounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMB-KJypds4
The billboard is apparently the same image.
As for pilgrims, let them ponder the temptations of the flesh as they pilgrimate.
(I can see banning advert signage entirely, on esthetic grounds.)
Are swimsuit ads illegal in Spain?
It's not "absolute" innocence, but there's a fresh feel to the rough linework and stylisation. I think every artist has tried his (or her) hand at sexy doodles from time to time and on the scales of lasciviousness, I'd say it's still on the innocent side.
Some people simply have way, way too much time on their hands.
Went to look for other work by the artist (Josep Moscardo), and if I have found the right fellow, it's mostly in a much heavier, though still stylised style, probably oils as opposed to the advert which is watercolour or gouache. Similar seaside subjects, but it mostly lacks the light charm of the advert, and is not really to my taste. He does have some sketches on his Instagram, though, which are quite nice.
12 Years Not a Slave
When I was young everyone knew conservatives has a stick up their asses. When did they pass that particular baton to the left?
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