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Inappropriately placed advert of the Day - Westmonster

The French have banned the promotion of excessive thinness in advertising. Westmonster report this … next to a “lose 20lbs in 20 days” ad.

Here’s the evidence of the perfidious deed:

20080416-french-parliament-bans-thin-people-screendump

As Westmonster puts it:

It is now illegal for anyone - but particularly those pesky advertising-types - to promote the idea of being excessively thin in France. Incredibly, though, the author of the law - a conservative named Valery Boyer - does not believe that it has gone far enough, citing the examples of pro-anorexia websites to show how disturbing and widespread this trend has become.

That would presumably include blogs that can be read in France, given the internationalisation of Internet Law and the Net itself. Ooops.

Anyone convicted of “inciting others to deprive themselves of food” will now face a hefty fine that could run into the thousands. All of which seems slightly vague, to be honest … there’s nothing wrong with promoting a healthy lifestyle, after all, and while Westmonster isn’t suggesting that everyone should be a stick insect living on one piece of lettuce a day, reminding people of the benefits of staying in shape can’t be all that bad, can it?

I’m saying nothing more … in case I end up imprisoned in a Chocolate Shop in Paris.

But presumably they will be coming for Madame Sarkozy any day now…

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About the Author

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Matt is an internet consultant, commentator, freelance writer and Project Manager based in the UK. He is available for hire. Matt edits the Wardman Wire, and writes at Poligeeks, Total Politics, and occasionally in several other places.

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