[URBAN NOTE] That controversial Virgin Radio suicide ad

[rfmcdonald]

Continuing a theme from today's link post, while I was walking west on Harbord Street on this glorious evening, I ran into one of the Virgin Radio ads that so angered the TTC.

A Virgin Radio suicide ad
Originally uploaded by rfmcdpei

The Globe and Mail's Jeff Gray has the story.

An irreverent ad for local Virgin Radio 99.9 FM that depicts a radio about to commit suicide by leaping onto the TTC's subway tracks is being pulled from the city's transit shelters after the chairman of the transit agency complained.

"That ad was not amusing," Adam Giambrone, chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission, said yesterday. "I don't believe Torontonians would find that ad funny. ... Suicide is a serious issue."

Rebecca Shropshire, a spokeswoman for station owner Astral Media Radio, said the ads had been up for about two weeks with just two complaints, but that all were being removed yesterday at the city's request.

"It wasn't intended to make light of suicide. It was intended to frame up a piece of social commentary about whether traditional media still have a place in the world," Ms. Shropshire said.

The ad campaign for the recently relaunched pop radio station depicts radios in various settings appearing to contemplate suicide, with the tagline, "Give your radio a reason to live."</blockquote<