I studied Italian in college and lived in La Casa Italiana for three years, so a number of my college friends make their way back to Italy in any given year and they always share photos on Facebook and send along humorous finds.
Knowing I write about dogs, one shared a funny advertisement that an Italian Animal Rights group is using to promote an abandonment awareness campaign featuring an Italian porn star, Alfredo Siffredi. Apparently Siffredi is known for rough sex and rear entry.
"If you abandon your dog, I'll fuck you in the ass."
I was pretty sure the image was a fake because the message is crude, even by European standards. Since Animal Rights groups like PeTA are known for pushing boundaries and being provocative, especially with sexual advertising, I decided to see if the image was real. I googled the Italian and found out all about Siffredi and that he was actually retained by Animalisti Italiani Onlus for an anti-abandonment campaign but that their original message was a bit more tame.
"I have seduced and abandoned, but not my dog."
Seeing as Google returns four times the number of results when looking up the spoof ad versus the real ad, I’d say that the internet has embraced the crude humor. Whether this will lead to anything better for stray Italian dogs, however, is doubtful. Animal Rights groups entertain their own egos with provocative ads as much as adolescent pranksters entertain themselves with mockery. Neither is good for much more than a laugh though; it’s hard to take a mission of compassion seriously when the message is so far removed from the cause. The reason the spoof is funny comes in part from how ridiculous the ad is in the first place.
Provocative campaigns might get attention, but they fail to engender respect. And I doubt such ads actually lead to changes in behavior.
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I don’t know what kind of dog is in the photo.
It looks like a Blue Picardy Spaniel, but they don’t have tricolor in them
It could be an English setter, but it’s very weird looking if it is.
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You’d think the mock ad would be entirely counterproductive with the gay community. (Promise?)
Apologies, I work with almost all men and suffer from second-hand testosterone exposure.
Geez,
I never would have figured you for a homophobe.
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That’s the current Prime Minister. He might get convicted soon– not of sexual assault.
That footage was taken years ago.
Retrieverman recently posted..Nominate Retrieverman for the Petties
LOL
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Smart woman. Clearly her advance team did their job and had her well versed in the risks of “Il Cavaliere.” Just think of all the things you could catch by getting closer to that man. He’s like Blago + Trump + JFK + Clinton + one of the lesser Baldwin brothers all rolled into one.
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And Rupert Murdoch. His job before he became prime minister was media mogul.
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For the record, my apology stems from how “unlady-like” my comment may be considered.
The comment itself speaks to how punishment/reinforcement is defined by the receiver.
*Curtsey*
I thought it was funny! 🙂
It’s kind of hard to make a serious social faux pas when the ad in question is, while hilarious, already broaching the subject of anal rape as punishment for ditching your dog. Hyperbole is sort of the point. I hope we don’t have to devolve into the sort of PC-ness where you can’t talk about a provocative joke as just that… humor.
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I tell you that I would think twice about abandoning my dog if that were a even a postulated.
I need written above my anus the words “Exit Only.”
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You’d need to get “Uscita Solomente” as a subscript for Alfredo here, just to be safe.
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Scottie’s getting a tramp stamp?
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More like a traffic sign.
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