Failure of Crazy Horse not due to
advertising restrictions: Dr Balaji
By Lee Foong Ming, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 03 March 2007 2212
hrs
SINGAPORE: The government has rejected suggestions that advertising
restrictions could have led to the failure of Crazy Horse Paris -
the topless dance revue which pulled out of Singapore last
month.
Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the
Arts Dr Balaji Sadasivan said the performances were meant for a
mature audience.
And there is a need for some regulatory control for advertisements
of adult entertainment.
Dr Balaji was responding to comments made by MP for Tanjong Pagar
GRC Baey Yam Keng in Parliament on Saturday.
Explaining, Dr Balaji said, "if we were a homogenous society,
regulating what is acceptable and what is not acceptable to society
would be simpler. But a diverse society will have a wide spectrum
of interests and views on what should be the norm. So the Media
Development Authority (MDA) has to strike a delicate balance
between the concerns, wants and needs of different groups."
And he gave the example of two hypothetical advertisements to
illustrate his point.
He said, "Many parents will be pleased if their young daughters
came home and said they wanted to take dance lessons because they
saw an advertisement for a performance by the Singapore Dance
Theatre. I do not believe these same parents will feel the same way
if their daughters came home and said the same thing after seeing
an advertisement for Crazy Horse."
However Dr Balaji pointed out that Singapore is not unusual in
having advertising rules.
The owner of Crazy Horse Paris whom he has met, told him they have
advertising rules in the European Union too.
Dr Balaji said, "Advertisements in Singapore must not be offensive
to the public and should adhere to the guidelines of the
Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore. Eng Wah, the operator
of Crazy Horse, was well aware of the advertising guidelines even
before it decided to launch the show, and had at its disposal,
various channels to promote the show before the launch. Subsequent
to the launch, MDA also reviewed and accommodated most of Eng Wah's
requests. And as Mr Baey has pointed out, there were so many
write-ups and articles in the newspapers before the show. It is
therefore not fair to say that the Crazy Horse failed because of
advertising guidelines."
The Senior Minister of State stressed that as Singapore opens up
more, it must also be sensitive to our societal norms and
values.
And these norms and values differ from country to country.
Citing a recent newspaper article, Dr Balaji compared the different
reactions to the movie, "Curse of the Golden Flower," in Shenzhen,
China, and the United States.
The movie-goer in Shenzhen wanted restrictions for the movie
because "the abundant cleavage was too much for the 32-year-old
electronics worker".
But in US, the movie is rated R.
Dr Balaji explained, "This means children younger than 17 must be
accompanied by a parent or an adult guardian to see it. The
Americans were not concerned by the cleavage, but by the violence.
This example illustrates my point that every society has its own
sensitivities and comfort level, which set the standards for
content regulation. Regulatory authorities have to be sensitive to
these differences." - CNA/yy
