The Naughty Bits

It's clear from watching TV at the gym this week that the FCC's jurisdiction does not extend to French TV, and especially not to commercials.

Two cases in point:

An ad for Levi's jeans shows a (straight) couple frantically unbuttoning their jeans as they climb the stairs to an apartment. As they do so, they admit to all the lies they told each other when they met earlier: "I've never been to the United States"; "This is not my apartment"; etc. This doesn't stop them from getting hot and heavy as the buttons fly open and the camera lingers lovingly on their crotches, with beaucoup de underwear showing.

In a different ad, a cartoon bird does its business -- shown in quite graphic color -- on a businessman's suit. The businessman pulls out and chugs a can of Red Bull, sprouts wings, flies up above the bird and unbuttons his pants, to the bird's visible dismay.

Neither of these would be worth more than a PG-13 at U.S. movie theaters, but you never, never see anything like it on TV, particularly not at 8:30 in the morning.

Refreshing.