STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sony Corp is to take full control of its Sony Ericsson mobile phone joint venture with Swedish mobile phone network gear maker Ericsson as it seeks to catch up with other makers of smartphones and boost its offering of consumer eletronics, the companies said on Thursday.
Ericsson is to receive 1.05 billion euros in cash for its 50 percent share of the venture, which was set up in 2001. It initially thrived with an array of camera and music phones, but later lost out in the smartphone race.
Furore over Burger King’s ‘raunchy’ sandwich ad
Washington, July 1 (ANI): A print advertisement of Burger King’s sandwich in Singapore has come under fire because of its “distasteful” and unappetizing references to oral sex.
The ad for the “BK Super Seven Incher” shows the “mind-blowing” sandwich near the open mouth of a wide-eyed, red-lipsticked woman accompanied by the suggestive tagline: “It’ll blow your mind away.”
“Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled,” Fox News quoted the ad as saying further.
The ad is a limited time promotion in Singapore-a society known around the world for its strict government controls of social conduct.
And now advertising experts have said that the ad leaves little to the imagination and should be discontinued.
Mark Duffy, a blogger and an advertising copywriter at a major New York City firm, said that the advertisement was among the “worst” he had ever seen in more than 17 years of his experience.
“I’ve seen a lot of sexual innuendo ads and this is about the worst, especially for something as mainstream as Burger King. I was a little repulsed by it. It’s really misogynistic to women and it’s also unappetizing,” said Duffy.
Duffy said that the woman’s face in the advertisement appeared to have been retouched to make it look like a doll, and that the American cheese on the sandwich seemed a little too white.
“It’s outlandish. They obviously didn’t hire a top-notch food photographer,” he said.
Duffy, who called on Burger King to terminate the ad, said: “It’s really distasteful on the appetite level and on the social level. The ad pretty much speaks for itself. How much more do they have to spell it out for you?”
Lauren Kuziner, a spokeswoman for Burger King, said that the campaign was produced by a local Singaporean agency, and not by the company’s U.S. advertising firm, Crispin Porter plus Bogusky.
“Burger King Corp. values and respects all of its guests. This print ad is running to support a limited time promotion in the Singapore market and is not running in the U.S. or any other markets. The campaign is supported by the franchisee in Singapore and has generated positive consumer sales around this limited time product offer in that market,” said Kuziner in a statement.
He, however, refused to identify the Singapore-based firm, and did not respond to requests for comment on whether Burger King had received complaints in connection with the ad. (ANI)