Saturday, November 18, 2006

At least they're consistent, part II



This week, Spain's Health Ministry asked Burger King to suspend a new advertising campaign for its "XXL" hamburgers. According to the ministry, the ads--for burgers that contain a hefty 971 calories--fail to comply with an agreement reached by Spain's food industry to avoid promoting supersized portions (they also offended a lot of Spanish vegetarians, who apparently see the ad above as a kind of hate crime). Burger King is fighting back ("Our customers' tastes come first,"), but with 18.5% of the country's children officially overweight, you have to wonder if this isn't a sign that burger ads may one day go the way of cigarette commercials.

Except in Madrid. The same regional government that banned models from Madrid runways for being too skinny apparently has a problem with efforts to prevent everybody else from being too fat. "The government shouldn't interfere with the tiny, intimate details of our lives," said the vice-president.

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