Thursday, May 23, 2024

Wrapsters - self-censorship has never been so glorious

Maybe you did not know this fact, but prisoners in Saudi Arabia are enlisted to help censor magazines coming into the kingdom. By censor I mean coloring with a sharpie all sensitive material, especially images (you know hands and legs of women, lingerie ads and so on and so forth). So much that when Links - not sure if the agency exists any longer or not - in 2002-3 had to do an ad for men's underwear, the shot a man wearing the product and... censored the image itself with a sharpie all over. The headline? "So intimate it should be censored". I was floored when I saw it.

Cut back to today's Wrapsters ad... A censored photo like the ones instagram censors. You know "sensitive photo - this photo contains sensitive content which some people may find offensive or disturbing" (yes, it was used and over-used when anyone posted anything about Palestine). But this is the kind of ad that makes you do a double take. "Delicious content - this photo contains delicious wraps that might make people crave a tasty escape".

Once more, another case of self-censorship but one used to beat the system. Lovely! Find Wrapsters here.