This advertisement meant for promoting Motorola’s Motorazr V3i mobile phone designed by Dolce & Gabbana. The print advertisement appeared in the leading newspapers of Britain and landed in controversy for being offensive. The advertisement was showing the two male designers, one standing in front of the other. The man standing to the rear was holding the phone at an angle so that it can draw similarity with a barber’s razor, at the same time the other man had a cut on his cheek. The punch line of the advertisement read, ‘The Cutting Edge of Technology.’
The complainants alleged that the advertisement was offensive and irresponsible, since it seemed to justify knife-related violence, and particularly to glamorize sexual violence. On the other hand, Motorola contended that they had created a graphic symbol between a barber’s razor and the RAZR phone to emphasize the ‘razor’ thinness of the phone and its cutting edge technology.
The Advertising Standards Authority had not upheld that complaints and ruled that the image was highly stylized, the advertisement was not likely to cause serious or pervasive offence to most readers. It also ruled that the ad was unlikely to glamorize sexual violence.
Via Best Rejected Advertisement
