Banned Ice Cream Ad: The Commodification Of Outrage

A company that makes and pushes over-priced frozen muck has got a free ad in The Independent, The Telegraph, Fagburn and elsewhere today.
The Antonio Federici appeared only in Look magazine, and showed two priests in full robes eating a tub of ice cream "in a seductive pose as if they were about to kiss passionately", said the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
You can read the ASA adjudication here.
The adjucation says; "Antonio Federici said their advertisement did not mock Catholicism but reflected the grave troubles they considered affected the Catholic Church. They gave examples of issues that had been reported in the press, which they believed many people would find more offensive than an ad that celebrated homosexuality. They said the issue of gay and lesbian bishops and priests was one that currently divided the Church of England [sic] and was likely to continue to do so...
"They said they were Catholics but would continue to produce advertising that challenged the Catholic Church while they believed it remained troubled."
Upholding six complaints about the ad, the ASA noted the ad used the text "We Believe in Salivation" in reference to the taste of the product and to the image of the priests.
Yup, a piddlying six complaints about an ad which - tellingly - they only paid to put in one magazine.
The ASA said: "We considered the portrayal of the two priests in a sexualised manner was likely to be interpreted as mocking the beliefs of Roman Catholics and was therefore likely to cause serious offence to some readers."
To which the only reasonable response is; "So what?"
Do religions have some special staus at the ASA?
The ASA ruled; "The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Antonio Federici to ensure future ads were not likely to cause serious or widespread offence."
Eh? But surely they knew this was coming?
After the self-made outrage Federici caused by running an ad featuring a pregnant nun to coincide with the pope's visit in September, they publicised the kissing priests one - as Fagburn reported at the time.
Funny.

• As before, here are some reasons why dairy products stink and you should go vegan.