Bus controversies and ‘Marca’ comment of the month
This past week, a company in Barcelona (Assistència Sanitària) put up an ad campaign on the city buses that showed five Barcelona players with their hands up and the Catalan word “units” (united) spelled out across their palms. Madrid-based sports dailies Marca and AS got all upset, saying that it was “provocation” and bad sportsmanship, etc, etc. 58% of Marca readers, in a poll on their website, found the image on the buses “provocative.” They were, basically, indignant.
In truth, FC Barcelona had nothing to do with the campaign. The company is allowed to use the images of the players and the creative director of the company said, “we wanted to talk about thing that unite health and sport, like solidarity, team work and the search for excellence. The hand is a symbol of friendship and we won’t talk about about secondary references.”
Following the “bus controversy,” one of Marca’s readers, whose username is escusi4, posted a comment under another article, that puts the entire issue into its proper perspective:
NEW NORMS TO FOLLOW IN ORDER TO NOT UPSET THE MADRIDISTAS:1. Do not greet with your hand. Shrug shoulders when you see someone.
2. To stop a taxi, throw a rock.
3. The king will no longer greet with his hand but will take out a megaphone and say, “Hello, Spaniards! The queen and I are proud to see you!”
4. TV station Telecinco will now be called “Tele 4+1.” They will only be allowed to say their original name to S. Ramos so he can avoid a mental breakdown.
5. We have to skip this one.
6. In place of a “high five,” smack elbows.
7. The mother wolf will eat one of her young.
8. Carmen de Mairena will be studied to come up with other rhymes, since “…. te la hinco” cannot be used.
9. The speed limit will be lowered so that one does not see the “50″ sign.
10. The elimination of all 50 euro notes.
