Naked bums ban bid caned online

UPDATE: BLOGGERS have blasted calls for a boycott of an accountancy firm over a billboard featuring bare bottoms, saying the sign is just good fun.

More than 70% of those voting in an online poll say the sign promoting the 'bottom line' is good humour and that critics are being 'prudes'.

"Soft porn 'eh?,'' Eugene from Maroochydore wrote.

"Perhaps the chaplain could shut down the free to air TV stations broadcasting video hits to those same young childrenevery weekend? And then maybe pull the plug on the Internet after that.''

Another regular blogger Jeff Watson, from Twin Waters, said he had not even noticed the sign, so it can't be that effective.

"This story is very effective (free) advertising though... lol,'' Mr Watson wrote.

"Oh my goodness... if they let them get away with this type of lewdness on advertising signs, they'll soon be playing erectile disfuction ads on morning radio while kiddies are having their breakfast!!

"We can't have that, can we?"

The story has gone around APN's online network - and been picked up by major sites like Fairfax's Brisbanetimes.com.au.

Malcolm Chilman’s sign on the side of a building on David Low Way attracted the ire of retired police chaplain Paul Nicholas and his wife Pauline, who has described the sign as soft porn and “emotional, social and psychological environmental pollution”.

Considering the name of Mr Chilman’s company is Bottom Line Control, it could be argued the sign is a play on words rather than gratuitous nudity.

But the former chaplain has no intention of turning the other cheek and has called for a boycott of the company.

In fact, he has formed the General Watch action group to ensure that “decent community values” are portrayed on public billboards and advertising in the area.

The chaplain, who recently moved to Coolum, said he was “deeply embarrassed to be confronted by naked backsides sitting along a jagged graph line” whenever he took his grandchildren to McDonald’s.

“If people did this in reality they would be arrested,” he wrote this week.

“I understand many people have been offended by this tacky and sleazy advert but despite the complaints, the owner, a local accountant, refuses to lift his standards.

“This would not pass the standards for daytime TV so why should we have it in our faces 24/7?”

Mr Nicholas said the advertisement may have been responsible for a lewd incident recently in a disabled toilet 100 metres from the sign.

A woman and her young daughter were waiting to use the toilet when they saw two men open the door and leave together giggling and zipping up their flies.

“She was absolutely disgusted,” Mr Nicholas said.

“Men get excited through their eyes, so do deviants and paedophiles. It creates an underlying seediness to the area.”

The chaplain complained to the National Institute of Accountants, which has asked Mr Chilman to remove its logo that appears on his sign.

But the accountant is fighting a rearguard action, claiming people find the sign humorous.

“I suggest that it’s actually iconic and Coolum people get a lot of enjoyment out of it, especially kids,” Mr Chilman said.

“Anything to do with bums and farts, they love it.”

He said the chaplain was entitled to his opinion but that is what it was: one person’s opinion.

“He’s an individual and not necessarily the voice of the community,” said Mr Chilman, who has lived in Coolum for 12 years and practised in the town as an accountant for the past seven years.

“It’s been up for over a year and he’s just the fourth person that’s complained.

“There’s been two complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority and they’ve basically said it’s fine.

“I know a lot of Christian people and they don’t find it offensive in any way.”

Mr Chilman said he was still in discussions with the National Institute of Accountants regarding its logo.

For more information about General Watch, email generalwatch1@gmail.com.

Would you boycott the company over their billboard? Leave a comment below.