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Gizmodo PSA: Don't Frack Around With Fireworks
Posted by Addy Dugdale at 1:00 AM on December 25, 2007
Any of you itching to let off fireworks over the holiday season should watch this safety film that comes with love from us to you—because, no matter how big our fireworks are, we geeks need to take care. Here's "jihadi group" the Liberation Army Against Freedom showing you how not to light your firecrackers this Christmas.
Any of you itching to let off fireworks over the holiday season should watch this safety film that comes with love from us to you—because, no matter
It's actually a public safety film commissioned by the Dutch government to remind people of the dangers of fireworks. However, the viral has been slammed as insensitive and as insulting to Muslims by the boss of a marketing agency.
"What is the campaign hoping to achieve by depicting a negative stereotype of the Muslim community in a fireworks advert?" said Saad Saraf, the chief executive of Media Reach Advertising. "Are the producers aware that the actors in the advert are speaking in an Iraqi accent; with the current state of affairs in Iraq, I question, what were the creatives thinking?," said Saraf. Er, what creatives usually think: namely, what is the most efficient and eye-catching way of getting this message through, I reckon. Happy Winterval, people. [MediaGuardian]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
strider_mt2k
Posted 9:53 AM 24/12/07
That's pretty zany!
Don't worry, anything I light this holiday season will burn a bit...slower.
strider_mt2k
BoardStupid
Posted 9:41 AM 24/12/07
That was the best PSA I have ever seen. It didn't make me want to turn it off after 10 seconds like most others. Nice work Dutch government.
BoardStupid
nightsky
Posted 9:30 AM 24/12/07
Dude, I totally noticed that Iraqi accent! What were they thinking? The ad would not be nearly offensive if the actors had a Dubai accent, that would have been acceptable I am sure.
nightsky
XHA
Posted 11:01 AM 24/12/07
My favourite part was the "Liberation army against freedom" banner in the background. But the whole thing was funny ass!
To be honest...I don't see how they thought they were gonna get away with that :P
XHA
god.DLL
Posted 10:59 AM 24/12/07
As stupid as it may sound this will probably offend a different group of people, and far more than the Muslim-terrorist community — the Israeli-jews community thing-ey…er.
I can tell coz' I live here. Definitely would be banned.
god.DLL
Papercutninja
Posted 10:59 AM 24/12/07
God bless the Dutch for actually fucking with the Muslims. Muslims get to be "outraged" at everything (Mohammed the teddy bear anyone?), and get to criticize all the infidels as much as they want. You want to be equal and respected in the 21st century with your barbaric medieval religion? That means we get to fuck with you as much as you fuck with us. Grow up.
Papercutninja
ashwinmudigonda
Posted 10:52 AM 24/12/07
Well, all budweiser ads are insensitive towards white male christians. watcha gonna do about that? FTW! these peeps don't have a TV.
ashwinmudigonda
qbrad
Posted 10:46 AM 24/12/07
@strider_mt2k: You so crazy.
qbrad
jbhitter24
Posted 10:39 AM 24/12/07
i really don't understand how this would be perpetuating 'stereotypes'. it would be one thing if the said it was in iraq with a couple of iraqi kids playing around, but no, it was supposed to be your average middle eastern terrorist. i don't see a problem.
either way, funny as hell.
jbhitter24
permissionmag
Posted 10:25 AM 24/12/07
Hilarious. The more people get upset about this, the faster it's going to spread across the net.
Love the guy dancing, too. Liked his little song.
permissionmag
discounteggroll
Posted 10:24 AM 24/12/07
nice, I was expecting some "fireworks support terrorism" PSA, but this was a nice surprise!
discounteggroll
jesusdiaz
Posted 10:18 AM 24/12/07
It's frikkin funny. Specially the guy dancing at the end.
jesusdiaz
atomicafro
Posted 2:35 PM 24/12/07
My advice to the Dutch Muslim community is this: lighten up. The ad isn't making fun of you, but rather the terrorist fringe of your faith. They aren't saying that all Muslims are terrorists, but rather making fun of some assholes that are giving all you guys a bad name. It's like a born-again Christian getting mad at someone who makes fun of those abortion clinic bombers. Sure there are probably some that would have that reaction, but they end up looking as big an asshole as the terrorists simply by defending their actions.
atomicafro
rilus
Posted 2:24 PM 24/12/07
I like the response from the Muslim Council of Britain:
"I thought they were very humorous public safety films. Obviously there will always be some who find it to be in bad taste, but I thought it was done light-heartedly and funny and with clear educational value."
They got the joke.
rilus
serpicowasright
Posted 10:03 AM 24/12/07
Seriously, this is hilarious! Could anyone else tell they were speaking with an Iraqi accent?
serpicowasright
Amiash
Posted 6:59 PM 24/12/07
@Papercutninja:
dont speak that way in some things that you dont really understand.
just my two cents.
Amiash
ninjatales
Posted 11:49 AM 25/12/07
The still cover image selected for the video was funny "LAAF" but once the clip started to roll, not quite so. Overly exaggerated acting because those guys have been messing around with firecrackers for ages. Replace them with clueless rich Dutch kids and that would be funnier.
Just my $.02 here.
ninjatales
juhuacha
Posted 10:20 PM 26/12/07
people are just too sensitive, learning to laugh at yourself is just as much fun as laughing at other people (because then they'll be laughing *with* you too, ha) ;)
juhuacha