AFP reports that the Subway sandwich shop chain has apologized for an ad campaign poking fun at French cowardice after some Francophiles in America complained that it was disrespectful.
The ad featured a cordon bleu chicken sandwich with the words, "France and chicken, somehow it just goes together." A photo of a chicken dressed like Napoleon accompanied the advertisement.
A spokesman for Subway said the campaign was meant to champion French cuisine. The ads were removed once company execs realized that people were offended, he said.
"Saying that the French are dirty or cowards is a little bit like saying the sky is blue. Nobody is going to contest it," Denis Chazelle, a long-time French resident of the Washington area, told AFP. "I think (French bashing) is worse now than it was two years ago because, although it's not as relentless as it was, it has become a lot more accepted and part of the landscape."
Scary
A Halloween haunted house attraction in Birmingham, Ala. was forced to change its name after mental health advocates there complained that the name was insensitive to people with mental illnesses, reports the Associated Press.
The Operators of "Slag's Insane Asylum" changed the name to "Slag's Un-ending Nightmare" and agreed to remove the image of a man in a straitjacket.
Peeved Pagans
Pagans in the UK forced a police department in Kent to change the name of an Halloween-era anti-crime effort because they said it was "grossly irresponsible" to link their religion's name to crime, according to the BBC.
"Operation Pagan" was to be launched later this month around Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night in Ashford. Police apologized and changed the name, however, when members of the 5,000-strong Pagan Federation complained.
"They wouldn't have called it Operation Christian, Operation Jew or Operation Muslim for obvious reasons, so why Operation Pagan?," said Pagan spokesman Brian Botham.
'Body Blow'?
Muslims in the Seattle area are irate over an ad for the Osprey aircraft in the Armed Forces Journal that features the plane unloading a number of U.S. troops near a mosque, according to KOMO-TV.
The ad -- a computer-generated composite image and not a genuine scene -- by Boeing and Bell Helicopters reads: 'It descends from the heavens" and goes on to read: "Ironically it unleashes hell."
Jeff Siddiqui with the American Muslims of Puget Sound was devastated, and called on Boeing to fire the agency that produced the ad.
"At first I was infuriated," he said. "Then I thought it's just one of those body-blows that Muslims and Arabs in this country keep receiving."
Boeing has apologized. "We consider the ad offensive, regret its publication and apologize to those who, like us, are dismayed with its contents... We immediately requested that our partner's agency withdraw and destroy all print proofs of the advertisement."
Hallmark Blues
A mayor in Kansas is raising a stink about a Hallmark greeting card, according to the Associate Press, saying it is offensive to people of his great state.
Topeka, Kan. mayor Bill Bunten officially complained about the card, which bears the title "CSI: Topeka" and features a cartoon of two people standing over a corpse, with one saying, "Looks like he was bored to death." Inside, it reads "Hope your birthday is anything but dull."
"I find it offensive," Bunten said. "It's probably drawn up by somebody from West Virginia who hasn't been here."
A Hallmark spokesman said the company didn't intend to offend anyone, and that they had hoped the people of Kansas would take the card in good humor.
Paddy Power
Catholics in Ireland are up in arms about an ad for a bookmaker that features Jesus and the Apostles gambling at the Last Supper, reports Reuters.
Bookmaker Paddy Power's billboards, on display in Dublin, play on Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting and show Jesus with a stack of poker chips, Judas with 30 pieces of silver and other apostles clutching hands of cards.
"There's a place for fun and games," says the caption.
"This is an insult to the religious sensitivities of a lot of people and should be withdrawn immediately," said Jesuit priest Micheal MacGreil. "To abuse this image, which is central to Christian beliefs, in a vulgar advertising campaign is totally and grossly inappropriate and Paddy Power should apologise to the people."
For more doses of politically correct nuttiness, head on over to the TongueTied daily edition.
Mailbag:
Lisa E. writes:
If white students used a tax-payer owned venue such as a college campus, and campus groups such as the women's studies and graduate consortium, to promote any event that barred anyone based on the color of their skin, there would be a national uproar with people descending from all over the country to demand the resignation of all staff members involved, including the university president. The ACLU would organize and fund the protest and legal action against the organizers. But when Whites are excluded, marginalized, insulted, harrassed, or discriminated against, it is not only politically correct, but they will also be called racist for trying to participate!
Jeff B. in South Dakota writes:
Bravo to the two Northeastern University students who took on the racist organizers of the "Women of Color Dialogue." How often have "offended" minority student or faculty groups forced the shut down or cancellation of events sponsored by conservative student groups, accusing the organizers of bigotry, disrespect or insensitivity? It was great to see the women use their "white privilege… and lack of generosity of spirit" to turn the tables on those hypocrites.
Paul S. writes:
I applaud Dave Allen for pointing out the hypocrisy of those fighting for "diversity" and "equality." The reality is that the proliferation of race, ethnic, gender and sexual orientation-based groups promotes nothing but divisiveness and bigotry. It is so ironic that there can be a club, group or organization for any and every group of whatever nature-- be it African American, pan-Asian, gay and lesbian, transexual, women or what have you -- but to start a straight white guy club is to be a racist or a bigot.
Matt Q. writes:
Don’t you love the hypocrisy? Had 100 percent of the employees been white, then McDonald’s would have been "racist" for not hiring minorities and in violation of equal opportunities. But since they hired 100 percent minority, the people that did the study are racist and we all know that equal opportunities don’t extend in this situation.
Matthew W. writes:
I have a hard time listening to people who say that a word like "noose" is offensive and racist. While yes, there were lynchings of blacks in history, whites were also hung. It's not a racially specific term. It is a noun, nothing more. It is a piece of rope that, when tied a certain way, was used to hang a person. This is just another example of people taking and word a twisting it into a personal political agenda to make a stink about something.
Jan L. in Kansas writes:
Several years ago, studies were done on the effect of colors on people. Pink was determined to be a calming color. At that time, many hospitals, schools, jails etc., were painted pink. If I were painting my oppositions' locker room, I would have painted it pink, too! Are people so bored they have to hunt for something to be offended about?
Duane R. in Colorado wonders:
What I would like to know is what is Erin Buzuvis, a female University of Iowa law professor, and "several friends" doing in the visiting team’s men's locker room in the first place?
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