Ashley Madison Agency, the company that openly promotes having an extramarital affair and has created a dating service specifically for interested adulterers, is making a spot buy during the Super Bowl. Sadly for Ashley Madison, the spot will not air in the company’s home country, Canada, because CTV has dubbed the commercial inappropriate. It will, however air in several U.S. spot markets.
CTV VP of Communication Scott Henderson said, “The Super Bowl attracts a broad audience composed of families, men and women, young and old. An advertisement for a website promoting adultery does not meet the standards for the quality brands associated with this premiere television property and major social event.”
Ashley Madison Agency President Noel Biderman countered, saying, “Physical intimacy is no different than requiring oxygen to breathe or water to drink, If it’s missing in your relationship, I don’t care who you are, President of the United States or the Prince of England, you’re going to step outside your relationship. That’s the bottom line.”
Biderman went on to express his anger over the decision, adding, “We’re just really livid that it’s not being seen in the country where the business was born and where it’s focused. I think that absent a regulatory reason, CTV is offside here.”
It’s a bit of a moral dilemma, isn’t it? Should a television impose its beliefs on it audience? Should it run the spot and let people decide for themselves? Does the station have an obligation to censor what might be deemed offensive? Does Ashley Madison have the right to promote its business even though many might find it, shall we say, less than family-friendly? Should we all just admit everyone has sex, wants to have sex and will have sex no matter what? Discuss.
