Finally, some relief:
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In response to an outcry from police unions across Canada about a TV commercial depicting a female cop making out with a male KIA Spectra driver, the automaker has decided to air the spot only after 9 p.m.
Tony Ciccia, a vice-president with Publicis Canada, the company that produced the ad, said yesterday the agency's client has agreed to a compromise that won't see them pull the ad, as some police unions have suggested, but rather air it when fewer children are watching.
"It's with respect for (the unions') opinion and that of others who may have misinterpreted the intent of the spot," Ciccia said from his Toronto office.
"The intent was to have a fun, humorous, memorable spot, and it was never meant to disparage or suggest anything about any profession or anyone."
But Ed Humphries, president of the Manitoba Police Association, said moving the time slot misses the point.
"It's still not acceptable. It still shows women in a bad light and it shows the police profession in a bad light," said Humphries. "I still say if the situation was reversed and that was a male officer and a female offender the public would be in an uproar, and I don't understand why they're not now."
In the ad, viewers see a man and a woman making out in a parked car.
A police radio then crackles, prompting the woman -- whom we discover is a sexy blond female officer -- to get out and walk back to her cruiser as a stunned grin spreads across the driver's face.
Humphries has suggested pulling the ad altogether but yesterday offered a more creative solution.
"I think we should take out an ad that shows a female police officer smashing the crap out of a KIA. I bet they wouldn't like that, but that's what it's like for us," he said.
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In other news, all you "Head-On, Apply Directly to the Forehead!" haters might be amused to see the company's new ads, which depict users of the product saying words to the effect of, "I hate your fucking annoying ads, but the product really does work." Kind of funny.