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Everything is Just Fine – an advert apparently banned in the UK.
News comes to me that an advert, a video in the style of a musical, for something called Coinbase, which I understand is some form of crypto set up, which is why the advert has been banned, and about which I know nothing more, (and this is not advice or recommendation on financial matters) is not permitted in the UK by the regulator, OFCOM. Not that I doubt that OFCOM are interpreting the regulations correctly. That the advert might be termed mildly satirical would be a fair description, and take a look at the shop names. It’s almost an updated Oliver Twist. Has it been made by people familiar with modern Britain? I would say so.
As Burns said in his ode ‘To a louse’:’O wad some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us!’.
Thanks to comedian Andrew Lawrence for the tip.
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Love the advert. The couple at the end seem to have some good advice given the state of things and the lack of a mechanism to fix anything.
Though I’m not sure that investing in crypto is likely a course to riches. Though it is worth pointing out that the first ever commercial transaction in bitcoin was in 2009 when someone bought two large pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin, which, today would be worth over a billion dollars. I hope the pizza was good.
When are OFCOM going to ban adverts claiming that you can buy 100% renewable energy tariffs? I believe that ads are supposed to be decent, honest and truthful. We all know what a 100% renewable energy tariff would actually be like, it would involve frequent power cuts, so they are obviously lying. I believe that the excuse is that the lying is cancelled out if you plant a few trees.
I have watched the full advertisement (via a YouTube film) – there is nothing violent, obscene, or even “racist-sexist-homophobic-transphoblic-climate-denying-Islamophobic…..” in it – the advert is simply a satire on the state of Britain, people proclaiming that everything is wonderful, as everything collapses around them.
That this advertisement has been forbidden speaks volumes about the development of this country towards “anarcho-tyranny” – where, as Mark Steyn put it long ago, “everything is illegal – except crime”.
“Ofcom” and other such bodies – and a body of “law” that is divorced from the principles of natural law – natural justice (the nonaggression principle) is worthless – indeed harmful, horribly so.
The Common Law is an effort to apply to individual cases, the principles of natural justice (natural law) – this statement would have been considered a statement of the obvious by Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke or Chief Justice Sir John Holt – who would also have agreed that a Statute of Parliament, let alone the whims of officials, must NOT go against these principles – and, it it does so, that Statute is VOID.
Sadly modern legal academics have more in common with Thomas Hobbes or David Hume than they have with Sir Edward Coke or Sir John Holt.
For American readers – I refer you to the Bill of Rights of 1791 and to the Bills of Rights of the States – all this comes from the same source, and without those principles it falls.
“No Paul – the advertisement was banned not for its satirical content, but because Coinbase is unsound as money”.
In Britain the most unsound money is “the Pound” – which is entirely fiat (not linked to gold, silver or any commodity) entirely the whims of the state and bankers.
For a regime responsible for this “Pound” to suggest that other forms of money are unsound is the pot calling the kettle black.
To be honest, anything that offends the Royal Ministry of Agit-Prop is subject to censorship in Britain, I would not rule out in the not so distant future that political ads in a Parliamentary election that support any party but Labour would be banned. For y’all’s own good, of course.
Subotai Bahadur
Ofcom? Is that anything like Offred from The Handmaid’s Tale?
Rocco,
It’s more like “offal”. Yea, even unto the clacker and the ring-piece – Viz 25:17.
Coinbase is a crypto exchange, one can buy limited amount of bitcoin and other cryptos there albeit it hasn’t been made easy in the UK (on and off ramp problems, debanking, etc).
The world is going to change. Bitcoin, blockchains, stablecoins, smart contracts, AI, robotics, humanoid robots. UK has already lost the coming race. The positive is, junior doctors and other tedious professions are not needed in 5-10 years time.
My cheeky prediction is, Bitcoin ETFs will be allowed in the UK when bitcoin hits a million dollars.
Looking at this from the point of freedom, things sometimes do get better.
In the old days Ofcom, or its predecessor then, would have banned the advert and that would have been the end of it; no-one would have seen it. Now, thanks to the internet, it’s available to anyone willing to enter a few keystrokes.
And, regardless of the wisdom, or otherwise, of investing in Coinbase, it does make a point doesn’t it? No wonder Ofcom banned it.
“Ofcom” and all other such unelected bodies that push regulations with the force of law should not exist – should be abolished.
And this includes the Bank of England – which is both unelected and has utterly failed in its supposed central task of sound money and honest banking.
“The Bank of England had a good record in the 19th century”
I would dispute that – for example in the early 19th century the Bank of England pretended that the Pound was worth more gold than it actually was (pretended that it had gold it did not have), this over valuation of the Pound meant severe economic difficulties and unnecessary poverty.
And there were also several bank bailouts in the 19th century – for example in the late 1840s under Prime Minister Russell (in the history text books Russell is described as a supporter of laissez faire – in real life he was state interventionist) – a lack of money for Ireland, which was taxed into the ground (the Poor Law tax and so on), but there was money to bailout the London banks.
But be that as it may – even if the Bank of England had a good record in the 19th century (and, again, I dispute that) its record in the 20th and 21 centuries has been bad – indeed terrible.
More than a century of failure is enough – the Bank of England must go, it must be abolished.
Why is this not a political advertisement? It doesn’t mention crypto. It doesn’t offer any sort of commercial pitch at all.
It just says, if everything is fine, don’t change anything. The implication is that if there is something wrong, go do something.
That Coinbase is in the business of crypto seems to have made Ofcom decide that they cannot have or say general political opinions, even good, common sense.
I’m just wondering (jokingly of course) if Coinbase bribed someone at Ofcom to get this banned. I can’t imagine a better outcome for them. They don’t have to pay for advert placement, everyone is talking about it and watching it on the web; it just seems perfect for a company that has a business that is mildly subversive like Coinbase. “Look the government censors speech, all the more reason to put your money in a currency that the government can’t touch.” Surely the same people who are mad about censorship are the exact target audience for Coinbase’s services?
The real laugh is that I use Coinbase for various purposes and the number of anti money laundering hoops they have imposed on their customers is unbelievable, and extremely frustrating. So Coinbase is very much the “establishment” crypto clearing house.
So I was getting really annoyed with them because of all the hassle, and then I watched this interview with their CEO and I quickly warmed to them. I was going to switch my business elsewhere but I didn’t mainly because of this interview (and because I got the problems sorted out.)
One day the muppets who run this country will understand the Streisand effect.
In Australia it is easier to open a bank account than a Coinbase account. They take their obligations seriously.
It is “Ode to a mouse”. Or did I miss the joke?
I stand corrected. “Ode to a louse” indeed. Andrew Lawrence is spot on too.