Australia's not the only country to favor the minority

[VS Omega]

In China, TV commercials for the year of the pig have been banned out of respect for Muslims. I find that completely unbelievable, next you'll be telling me they would crap all over their own traditions and completely replace the pig to a less offensive animal in the name of PC?! What next..

The whole world's gone nuts. in 1995 (the last year of the pig) this wouldn't have even been an issue.

Ming Pao HK - China has long been portrayed by the West as being oppressive against religion. Well, perhaps it depends on what religion.

When the Lunar Year of the Pig is fast approaching, China's largest state-owned CCTV recently received an order from the government that prohibits airing of any TV ads that contains images of the pig. This is a measures aims to avoid offending the Muslims in China, in order to "protect the harmony between different religions and ethnic groups".

According to the Chinese edition of the Asia Wall Street Journal, CCTV issued a notice to all advertising agencies on Jan 23 that "China is a multi-ethnic country...in order to show respect to the Muslims, as instructed by the respective government unit, that CCTV will not air any ads containing images of the pig throughout 2007. This measures also applies to ads related to the Chinese New Year."

Images of the pig to be banned includes photographs, cartoons, paper cutting silhouettes, and even "Happy Year of the Pig" slogans.

Many corporations were surprised by the notice as most CNY ads have already been produced. Some just decided to re-do all CNY ads.

Nestle SA has initially prepared a smiling pig cartoon ad to celebrate "Happy Year of the Pig". Spokesperson said they would follow the requirements and change the content accordingly.

Coca Cola has prepared two sets of CNY cartoon ads with leading characters being a panda and a pig respectively. The company said they will still air the pig ad but will not air it in local TV stations where there is a large Muslim population.

Mindshare Shanghai told Deutsche Presse Agentur that the "No-Pigs" requirement was ordered by the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party, which is responsible for ideological propaganda. The agency said the order was made by committee member Li Changchun, quoting fear of conflicts between ethnic groups.

CCTV refused to say from which department was the order being made, saying the notice was an "internal document".

China has about 8.6m Muslims. Ma Yunfu, vice chair of the Islam Society of China said Muslims hate pigs and they would not even mention the word "pig" in their daily life. Ma didn't know about the notice CCTV received, but he believed what the government wanted to do was to "immunize" against any possible troubles.

In an academic forum held by the society in Beijing last year, the society urged Islam organizations across China to prepare for the arrival of the Year of the Pig, to "draft contingency plans to prevent any unfortunate instances."

The society also suggested Islam organizations to "advertise in local newspaper, magazines and TV about the basic knowledge of the Islam religion, its customs and taboos," so that "non-Muslims could understand and respect the sentiments of the Muslims."

[drewins]

Yeh but pigs are pretty offensive....

[Blue-VZSSV8]

I didn't find Babe offensive.

[Christina]

No wonder Babe hasn't been on TV in a while.

[coolvxss]

I heard somewhere that the Muslims and stuff were trying to ban people having Xmas lights on the house and garden because its offensive to them. All this crap is getting soo bad. Imagine if we went to there country and started acting like they are here.

[daron]

next they will say aussies are offence and hsould have them removed
i got news you you NO FU(&*^ WAY

[brownie82]

Yeah their not gonna change there ways for us when we visit there countries. I reckon the "Piss off were full" is looking prett good at them moment.

Cheers,
Brownie

p.s. We even let a bloody Irishman win our Aussie idol lastyear, now if thats not accommodating then i dont know what is!!

[padrickz88]

already know what this is going to turn into so ill sya it straight out
-no they cant "go back to there own country" because most of them were born here
-this is probably a group of people wanting this to come into effect because they are hard ass's, dont assume ALL muslim people are bad(which happens alot in these threads) just because some of them like to be ********s and take PC to far
-and before someone says about "living the asutralian life" ALOT do and there is no problem, just some bad eggs just like ALL religions/nationalities

but seriously, this with the banning of year of the pig is bs. dont know why they do it, but it happens... o well got to make people happy true?

[Christina]

Ban Xmas lights?!!!??!!
They've already banned Xmas cards at my school because it offends "certain people".

I'm the biggest Xmas hater ever, and yet, Xmas wouldn't be Xmas without the lights. Tell them to **** off and shut their blinds if they don't like it.
Anyway, they won't ever get lights banned, people are free to do whatever they want within their own home.

Perhaps we should ban mosques, they are offensive to me because i'm not allowed to worship there and I have nightmares because when I look at them I think of the possible terrorists..

[Mr Squishi]

Is it just me, or does it seem that only the muslim/Islams (is there a difference?) are getting this kind of "sucking-up-to" treatment?

Maybe the Mormons could get in on the act and blow up something American! Then we could ban sex!

(If I've offended anyone, I just want to say GOOD! Bugger off and get a life)
(I'm not trying to offend Mormons, so please don't take it seriously)


I never thought China of all places would do something like this. Shocking.

[Christina]

China loves to oppress the Falun Gong, yet bow to Muslims?

What's wrong with a pig anyway? A cute little baby piglet.. with it's little snout, rolling in mud and eating, playing even, with their brothers and sisters.

I think I will add pig to my list of wanted animals. OINK OINK!!!
I guess if China didn't ban the commercials, Muslims would call RACISM. It's a no-win situation.

I'm hungry for some pork now...

The truth about pigs, http://www.savebabe.com/truth.html.

[Christina]

i just thought i'd add, has China banned winnie the pooh? or atleast censored Piglet?

[dagar187]

i was at maccas the other day and about ten other ppl waiting in line when this mus guy starts yelling and carrying on because they didint have an halal big mac!!!! i said to him to just calm down and go to another maccas down the road ie-lebanon. !! sori i had to say it,this guy was so offensive turning around at everyone pointing his finger and saying stuff like:yeah youse ar all da same"

[daron]

shouldnt be against the law to carry guns and use em

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

My 1st wife was a pig....so I banned her from my life.

[padrickz88]

My 1st wife was a pig....so I banned her from my life.

HAHAHAHA thats gold

[Christina]

lol, i've got a feeling like my school is going to start advertising halal food this year... will find out tomorrow.

[gopher]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Julie]

I can see it now my kids will come home from school singing "Old McDonald had a farm ee i ee i o, and on that farm he had pig ee i ee i oopsss I mean old Mohammed had a camel ee i ee i o.........."

Whats this world bloody coming to..... Screw polictical correctness!

[craigvk]

Yep, the world has gone mad and it's the gutless people running the countries that are letting it happen. I roll my eyes whenever I think about this crap.

It's not just muslim crap. They banned fairies in schools so they don't affend homo-sexuals. They banned ba-ba-black-sheep to not offend black people! Gah....

[padrickz88]

Yep, the world has gone mad and it's the gutless people running the countries that are letting it happen. I roll my eyes whenever I think about this crap.

It's not just muslim crap. They banned fairies in schools so they don't affend homo-sexuals. They banned ba-ba-black-sheep to not offend black people! Gah....

exactly, PC is taken to far and its not just muslims..... just like the black board is now called the "chalk board" and if i remember right from what my teacher told me last year a white board is now a "writing board"..... like wtf?

[craigvk]

exactly, PC is taken to far and its not just muslims..... just like the black board is now called the "chalk board" and if i remember right from what my teacher told me last year a white board is now a "writing board"..... like wtf?

Oh my. You have got to be kidding!!!!!!!!!

[shaggerz]

I have a very small amount of marketing training and part of it was that black is never black... it's "charcoal" and white is never white, but, "ivory".

The standard approach is to not make waves. Just bend over and take it up the ringer, as its better than confrontation. I hate this approach as it is spineless. The trouble is that one's term in parliament is so short. You get into parliament, make some changes that make you look fantastic for a while with no consideration of the damaging long term effects, retire on a massive payout, and let the world go to hell in a hand basket when your replacement does exactly the same thing time and time again. We see the same thing with the old "What are we going to do about the P plater hoons" debate, the water shortage, and just about every other issue that is difficult to tackle. Government takes the standard car dealer approach. Apply WD40 and duct tape so that it works for just long enough for the warranty to expire... then when it all falls apart, who cares! I've got my big fat payout.

A sorry state of affairs indeed.

The whole point of political correctness is to prevent discrimination, not to ignore the bleeding obvious. You CAN call a black man black... because he is!! Theres no point pretending you can't see that plain as day. To treat him differently because his skin is black is discrimination, just like in this case suppressing the traditions of chinese people in favour of muslims is also discrimination. It is discrimination against the majority, which in my opinion, is far worse.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Who ever found my comment offensive and degrading to women, it wasn't directed at women in general, just my ex wife. If you are a woman and it offended you I apologise, if you are a man....you have never been married.


And I find the fact that you haven't identified yourself offensive and degrading to your character.

[brownie82]

You are exactly right there Shaggerz!! MMM Roast pork and gravy roll, with crackling on the side!!