Americans and many Europeans have spent the week tsk-tsking the Spanish Basketball teams, the Spanish advertising agency, and the entire population of Spain for their now infamous newspaper ad showing the team stretching the skin around their eyes to create "Chinese eyes."

The ad ran for nearly a month in Spain without any apparent righteous indignation and it wasn't until the British media made an issue of the print ad that all eyes turned to the Spanish ad. From SpottieOttieDopaliscious,

Not only did they publish an offensive ad picturing them mocking their Chinese hosts, they are now defending the photo and claiming it is a "sign of affection". The women's team also posed for a similar ad for Spanish marketing company Seur, which is currently running the ads in Spanish newspapers:

What if it really was a sign of affection? Sitting in North America ,it seems inconceivable, but things are not always what they appear to be.

Could the cultural differences be that strong that most Spaniards saw this as a sweet gesture? This was an ad for Spain. It was not intended  for global consumption.

It is possible that what the basketball players said was the truth--- that they thought they were showing affection.

Instead, we criticize them for their insensitivity. And, we act as if we, as a society would never do anything so utterly insulting.

Or, would we?

It seems there is a flurry of Offensive Ads hitting the airwaves. One of the latest is Nissan Ad running in Israel.Saudi Arabia is threatening to boycott the Japanese car giant who is saying they were totally unaware of the commercial. From Forex Info For You

The TV commercial shows one of the wealthy Arabs pounding his fists on the car just to be held back by his companions as he screams at the vehicle "You destroyed my home! May God destroy your home! Hawks should peck at you day and night".

The commercial ends with a voice over saying: "It's clear the oil companies won't like you."

In England, two ads were pulled from the airwaves for being offensive --not because people from Britain complained but because folks in the U.S. protested

The ads in question were for Heinz Deli Mayo and Snickers. The Heinz ad featured two men briefly kissing and the Snickers ads that feautred Mr. T was thought to be offensive to gay people. After receiving pressure from US lobbyists, and fearing US boycotts, the two companies pulled their ads and apologized for offending anyone.

What it so interesting about this is that neither of the advertisements were ever aired in the US. How could so many US citizens be so offended by a television ad that never aired on US TV? Of course, because of the Internet; the Internet has created an environment where nothing, including ads, is purely local anymore. Consumers of one culture now have the ability to influence and change what those in another country see. As Heinz and Snickers are American brands, Americans feel they should have a say in how these companies market themselves internationally.

Then there is this ad for the lottery in South Africa from Hair Today,forgot tomorrow

the advertising for this stupendous amount of cashola has begun on radio and television. So I listened to the radio as I drove to work yesterday, I heard an advert along the following lines (apologies for badly misquoting certain parts of it – I've heard it only once – but I assure you, the meaning conveyed is the same):

Husband: Honey, can I have money to go out with the boys?

Wife: No, you saw them last week.

Husband: Well, can I at least watch the rugby on tv?

Wife: No, I am watching my shows now.

Voiceover: With the R20-million lotto jackpot up for grabs this Women's Day, you can wear the pants in your home.

There's plenty more. Really want to get offended?  Nigel Hollis has documented a series of  offensive ads that will probably make you shake your head and ask,"What Were They Thinking?"

Of course, we  can guess  what they were thinking. Getting banned from commercial airwaves is a gift that keeps on giving. It now provides enough publicity to let the people who you really want to see your ad, discover i it on YouTube.Getting banned has its privileges.

But it also raises an interesting  issue about cultural differences and autonomy. Is there no room left  for cultural idiosyncrasies?  Are we beginning to have global standards of conduct for appropriate advertising? And, in the process will cultures lose something that is very precious--their identity.

Elana blogs about business culture at FunnyBusiness