South Africa’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has instructed a TV commercial to be withdrawn as it could offend Christians.
The ad depicts angels falling from heaven because they are attracted to a man’s deodorant.
A viewer who complained to the ASA about the advert said the suggestion that angels — God’s messengers — would literally fall for a man wearing this deodorant was incompatible with his belief as a Christian, according to the ruling by the ASA’s directorate made on October 14.
The advertisement for Axe deodorant (known as Lynx in Britain) features winged, attractive women crashing to earth in an Italian town.
The scantily-clad women are then drawn towards a seemingly unremarkable man preparing to get on a moped. They regard their quarry lasciviously while sniffing the air before one by one smashing their halos and advancing towards him.