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Foxtel apology over “appalling” billboard

A billboard for the Studio channel will be replaced, described by Foxtel as being in "appalling taste."

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Billboard1A controversial billboard by Pay TV arts channel Studio will be replaced after attracting plenty of publicity including a blast from a religious group and an apology from Foxtel.

The image depicts an unidentified man having sex with a pig.

The scene is from UK drama Black Mirror, a satire by writer Charlie Brooker which aired last year on SBS when a fictional British PM was sent a ransom note instructing him to have sex with a pig on national TV, to save the life of a princess.

Arts channel Studio, which rebranded today with its ‘WTF campaign,’ sponsored the billboard in King’s Cross, triggering criticisms from the Australian Christian Lobby in the media today.

But the billboard is now to be removed overnight.

This afternoon Foxtel issued an apology:

“This billboard is part of a campaign by Studio the arts channel produced for Foxtel by SBS. It was intended to provoke, but is clearly in appalling taste and demonstrates a lapse of judgment by Studio and a failure in the approvals process at Foxtel. Once senior management at Foxtel became aware of the nature of the image we instructed Studio to remove and replace the billboard. This will happen as soon as possible. Foxtel regrets any offence that has been caused.”

Studio’s WTF campaign is a play on words, strategically teasing “Watch the Forbidden.”

“While art can sometimes be divisive or provocative, we certainly did not intend to upset anyone with this campaign. We apologise for any offense that was caused by the billboard. We will be immediately replacing it overnight with another piece of our campaign,” said Chris Keely, General Manager of STUDIO.

Black Mirror aired on SBS last year rated MA to good reviews and without incident.

David Knox blogs Eurovision for SBS.

19 Responses

  1. The NBN will deal with Foxtel – a business model looking like a duck with a big head on it during duck season. Ads like the one shown are not cool, just plain silly.

  2. Just herd on the ABC 774 that Melbourne paper “The Age” is pulping 50,000 sections of this Saturday’s paper , at Foxtel’s request ( and expense ) because of the same advertisement.

  7. @kabigon. Yeah totally agree with you. Foxtel and Studio must have dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s for this to go ahead. So in my oppinion they dont need to appoligise. In reality they are just doing it inorder to stop the complaining and so it doesnt hurt the channel thats all. I dont think they actually mind this billboard ad.

  8. Why apologise, if you approve such a billboard then you know what you’re getting yourself into. An apology just makes you look foolish. Next time either stick to your guns or don’t show it at all.

  12. I forgot how good Black Mirror was when I saw it on SBS One. Looking up the DVD right now… Thank you, Australian Christian Lobby. 😉

  18. So earlier today Mr Keely said, “the best art is divisive and provocative.” Now he’s saying, “art can sometimes be divisive or provocative.” Thank god he’s learnt something in the past 24 hours. And WTF ‘Watch The Forbidden’? What a pig of a concept
    to use on such a smart brand as Studio.

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