Saturday, September 16, 2006

Parking is no joke as Italy's women sue over beer ad

The ANNOTICO Report

Excuse Me!!!!  Women are Lousy Parkers, and Men Will Not Ask Directions !!! Always True?? NO!!! Often?? Yes!!! 

Would I prefer to be periodically reminded I was a Bad Parker, OR Constantly that I was associated with the Mafia ????                                      

Lady, you have too much time on your hands, or too big a chip on your shoulder. Lighten Up, and I'll put the Toilet Seat Down:)

PARKING IS NO JOKE AS ITALY'S WOMEN SUE OVER BEER AD  

The Telegraph, UK

By Nick Pisa in Rome

September 17, 2006

To the men who commissioned it, no doubt, the advertisement seemed like harmless fun.

In a scene set a century ago, a young woman struggles to park her horse and carriage, while two beer-drinking, male, bystanders look on, laughing. The action cuts to the present and shows the same woman having trouble parking her car, eventually leaving it jutting into the road.

Again she is watched by two smug men swigging from bottles of Peroni beer, as a voice-over remarks: "Fortunately some things don't change".

For Italy's women, however, the joke has fallen flat. A group of female lawyers is making legal history by suing the beer company for being sexist and discriminatory.

Laura Vasselli started the action against the beer company, Peroni the official sponsors of the Italian football team after she was shocked by the commercial which is running on prime-time television.

Mrs Vasselli, 47, a mother of two who runs her own legal office in Rome's Parioli district, told The Sunday Telegraph: "When I saw the advert on television, I could not believe my eyes.

"It was the most sexist and discriminatory thing I have ever seen and, this being Italy, there is quite a lot around. In essence, it was saying that women 100 years ago could not park a horse and carriage and even now they still cannot park a car. And all the while, these two men were looking on drinking beer and just laughing what sort of image is that?"

She discussed the advertisement with several female colleagues who shared her opinion that it "completely ridiculed" women who, according to the ministry of transport's latest statistics, are less likely to have an accident while at the wheel than their male counterparts.

"We have decided to take legal action and papers have now been served on Peroni," said Mrs Vasselli.

"This is the first time anyone has taken such action against a company in the Italian courts. Peroni obviously think the whole thing is a joke but we shall see who is left laughing when the judge decides."

The documents that have been served on Peroni say: "The message from the advert is that the quality of the beer stays the same over time while the ability of women to park remains inefficient over time.

"Although Peroni may see this advert as light and ironic we most certainly do not see it as such and we find it hard to believe that the company should have even run such a discriminatory and sexist advert."

The documents close with the lawyers saying: "We would like to point out to Peroni that women these days safely drive and park not only cars, but planes, taxis, coaches, ships and trains."

The lawyers argue that the advertisement breaches article 2043 of the 1942 Italian Civil Code, which reads: "Anything that causes illicit damage or an injustice to a party can be sued for in a court of law."

The amount of any damages would be decided by the judge, but there is no ceiling.

Nobody was available to comment at Peroni.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.

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