'G-spot of Europe': Raunchy ad for the capital of Lithuania sparks outrage ahead of the Pope's visit
Lithuania's capital Vilnius has decided to go ahead with the controversial, sexually explicit international advertising campaign that refers to the capital city as the 'G-spot of Europe' in spite of direct opposition from the church and the central government in the country.
The posters for the campaign promoting the city shows a young woman lying on a bed which has the map of Europe printed on it and clutching a handful of the material where the Baltic country's capital is located. The advertisement, which had been aimed to portray the city as one of the continent's undiscovered treasures says: "Nobody knows where it is but, when you find it, it’s amazing. Vilnius, the G-spot of Europe."
The posters were due to appear in Berlin and London on August 9. The reference that was made to the hard-to-find erogenous zone of a woman had definitely ruffled the feathers of the pious Catholic Baltic country in the EU with its population of 2.9 million people. Images that were taken of the campaign banner have since gone viral on social media platforms and this has garnered support as well as criticism, reported news.com.au.
Arturas Zuokas, the former mayor of Vilnius, has heavily criticized the campaign. He said in an interview on August 8: "No one in the West is using sexist references in marketing anymore, especially when we speak about public authorities."
Gintaras Grusas, the Vilnius Archbishop, has said that the raunchy campaign "potentially strengthens the image of Vilnius as a sex tourism city and exploits the sexuality of women".
The Lithuanian government has asked that the capital city postpone the explicit campaign till after the Pope visits in late September this year. The organizers of the campaign, however, have refused the request and have said that the advertising of the ad will end well before the pontiff visits. They have also stressed that the campaign is not associated with him in any way.
Jurgis Ramanauskas, a co-creator of the ad campaign, said: "Those who are outraged are only showing that the campaign actually works because it is making a fuss and provoking discussion."
Go Vilnius, the city's official tourism service, has said that the campaign is aimed at people who are aged between 18 to 35 and that it will only be displayed for a week. The campaign was created by Lithuanian advertising students. The ad is said to run along with an online campaign which is said to last for a month. According to Go Vilnius, the capital city attracted 210,000 tourists in the first three months of 2018 which is a 7.5% increase for the same period last year.