May 9, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The Federal Authority for Communications (Bakom) in Switzerland has prohibited the broadcasting of a short TV ad for the Catholic Newspaper “Sonntag” (Sunday) on its national public TV networks such as RTL and VOX.
The Swiss Federal Authority for Communications argues that broadcasting the ad goes against the prohibition for religious commercials or propaganda on public as well as private networks.
This comes as the lower House in the Swiss parliament is drafting a new law to prohibit any commercials with a religious character even on private networks. The bill would also ban ads for liquor and tobacco.
Cat Medien AG, the producer of the ad and owner of the weekly paper “Sonntag”, said the prohibition is absurd, equating religious propaganda with liquor or tobacco. To counter this, the agency is allowing people to see the commercial on the Internet through the link below.
Before viewing it, a warning is given: “Be Careful, do you really want to see a video that’s prohibited by federal authority?”
http://www.verbotenerspot.ch