Flour Mill faced loss due to low-cut Levis ad

In the story involving Zuckerman & Co. Flour Mill, their wall, a media company called Hotzot Yetzira, and a 1040 sq. meters large poster of Jennifer Lamira in low-hanging Levis, the happy ending is that the ad will no longer grace the wall of the flour mill overlooking the Ayalon expressway in Tel Aviv.

David Bresler, CEO responsible for the marketing and this ad called the 'censoring' of it a "public problem."

"The ad appeared in Western Europe, with 300 million conservative people who didn't have a problem with the ad."

Maybe it wasn't the picture, maybe it was its size. Anything that big is an eyesore. Read more in the Jerusalem post.

Badatz forces flour mill to remove provocative ad
By Zev Stub
March 21 -- A provocative advertisement for Levis Jeans near the Ayalon expressway in Tel Aviv will be replaced Sunday, after the Badatz threatened to block sales from a neighboring flour mill.

The rabbinical court said it would forbid Zuckerman & Co. Flour Mill from supplying flour to its largest customer, Angel Bakeries, until the billboard, owned by Hotzot Yetzira advertising, was removed from its building.

Hotzot Yetzira CEO Yossi Anconina said the penalty for the advertisement, which went up last Sunday, would have meant losses of several hundred thousand shekels a day for Zuckerman, which was not responsible for the ad.

The advertising billboard, designed for the Levi's ad, is said to be the largest in the Middle East, measuring 1040 sq. meters. Anconina said Hotzot Yetzira had spent $250,000 building the billboard, and $40,000 making the ad itself. Putting up a second, toned-down version of the ad will cost another $40,000.

Anconina said jeans manufacturer Levi's is paying $70,000 a month for the ad, which features model Jennifer Lamira in low-hanging jeans, with a commitment to two months and an option for two more. He said the billboard, overlooking the highway, is seen by 700,000 viewers a day.

David Bresler, CEO of Tango, which markets Levi's in Israel, called the censoring of the ad a "public problem." Noting a two-year-old law allowing religious censorship of outdoor advertising, he said, "The ad appeared in Western Europe, with 300 million conservative people who didn't have a problem with the ad." He suggested the establishment of a public committee to draft guidelines, instead of relying on rabbinical judgment calls.

At the same time, Bresler did not deny that the picture was meant to create controversy. "We were afraid there might be some confusion," he said, adding that he chose not to submit the picture to the Rabbinate for approval beforehand. "People in outdoor media have given up, and don't fight anymore," he said. "The owner of the billboard decided to go with it, and he was very brave."

Members of the Badatz were unavailable for comment.