(click for larger pic)

Local ISP KEMS has launched ‘Half By Half’ campaign with the above advertisement on it website. Basically if you pay upfront for yearly DSL connection, they only charge you half, and they pay the other half. Now the question is not of a deal here but the currency note shown as torn in half. We have people from both sides of the bridge here with like local blogger Q8Life [who raised this issue], who is against depiction of torn currency notes. And then we have another side blogger Mark from 248am who doesn’t feel its violation of national integrity.

As for me, I consider this as clever-dertising. I do agree that the notion of half torn notes has been depicted in certain movies as credentials for smuggling where one party would hold one half and smugglers would hold another half and on delivery of goods they would first match the notes and verify each others authenticity.

Or on the other hand, if this was a Kuwaiti national flag, I would consider this as an insult straight. Because by law you may/can not insult the national identity.

But the reason I am on for this advert is because, depiction of money has been used for almost every type of advertising, right from everyday flicking of coins, to showing prospective winners with money flying around them, to guy/gal holding stash of money with a huge grin, to depicting walls of houses/buildings made of money bricks etc. etc.

What I would consider as an insult is if they had shown the currency note being burnt, or someone snorting coke off it, or if someone was stamping the currency note under the shoes [damn who would do that?!]