News

Friday January 8, 2010


At Least Two Canadian Cities Ban Offensive “Virgin” Transit Ads

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

CALGARY, Alberta, January 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Calgary is one of at least two Canadian cities that have pulled sexually suggestive ads, one of which involved a gay theme with two men, from public transit shelters after an outburst of complaints.

The ads for Virgin Mobile cell phones show two men, or a man and a woman, in passionate embraces, with one person in each picture dressed up with angel’s wings. The caption under the picture reads “Hook Up Fearlessly.” In current jargon to ‘hook up’ with someone typically means to have casual sex.

Transit authorities in Calgary and Mississauga have told the company to remove the ads. The highly sensual ads on Toronto bus shelters were not pulled and continued to be displayed throughout the Christmas shopping season.

Calgary Transit spokesman Ron Collins told Sun Media the ads were deemed “a bit too provocative,” and though he did not explain why the ads had been approved in the first place, he said the complaints received mention the positioning of the models’ hands in two of the ads.

“In both cases we thought the hand positioning of the male on the female was inappropriate – one of them is on her bare thigh and the other one is on her buttocks,” Mr. Collins said.

“If you look at that through the eyes of a child using the transit system, we didn’t think it was appropriate they should be subjected to that,” Collins added.

Virgin Mobile chief marketing officer Nathan Rosenberg told Sun Media the ads were due to be replaced this week by the company’s next ad campaign in any event and made no apologies for the offensive graphics.

“Virgin’s advertising always tends to have an edge to it,” he said. “We’re very interested in creating advertising that creates discussion. It’s quite interesting for us because these are the sorts of images people are bombarded with every day.”

Contact Information to voice your concern / opinion:

City of Calgary Transportation Department – Calgary Transit

224 – 7 Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta

Phone: 403-262-1000

Email: [email protected]

City of Mississauga – Mississauga Transit

300 City Centre Drive

Mississauga, ON L5B 3C1

Phone: 905-615-4636

Email: [email protected]

Toronto Transit System

Phone: 416-393-3030 (Weekdays, 8:00am – 5:00pm, closed holidays)

Adam Giambrone

Chairman of the Toronto Transit System

City Hall

100 Queen Street West, Suite C42

Toronto, ON M5H 2N2

Phone: 416-392-7012

Fax: 416-392-7957

[email protected]

Company that Manages TTC bus Shelter ads

Rob Sinasac

National Sales Manager

CBS Outdoor

416-521-6437

[email protected]

Virgin Mobile Canada

720 King Street West, Suite 905

Toronto, Ontario M5V 2T3

Phone: 888-999-2321

Website with email feedback: https://www.virginmobile.ca/


Read related LSN articles on contentious transit ads:

“Life is Short. Have an Affair.”: Toronto Transit System Rejects Adultery-Promoting Ad

Toronto Transit Commission Approves Anti-God Ads

Buses Cannot Refuse Political Ads, Supreme Court of Canada Rules in B.C. Case