Punk veteran Iggy Pop is no stranger to controversy, ever since his early days with the Stooges when he smeared his bare torso with peanut butter onstage. But the current reason why Pop has come under fire is certainly a new one.
It seems a recent British TV commericial starring Iggy for the U.K. insurance company Swiftcover has been banned by Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for being misleading, because Swiftcover did not cover musicians at the time that the ad was shot.
Apparently only 12 television viewers complained about the mildly deceptive ad--which is probably far fewer people than used to complain when Iggy, say, mutilated himself with broken glass or exposed himself onstage back in the day. But 12 complaints was all it took to have the commercial yanked from the air by the ASA.
Reps for Swiftcover later explained to the BBC that they had hired Iggy for their ad campaign not because of his profession (or because he held a Swiftcover policy, which he did not), but for his reputation for living a reckless rock-star life. But Swiftcover has just started insuring fast-living rockers, so Iggy will remain Swiftcover's spokespunk for now.
So...Iggy's Swiftcover commercial was pulled because he wasn't really a Swiftcover customer. Does that mean that that Royal Caribbean Cruise ad, ironically soundtracked by Iggy's Trainspotting-popularized drug anthem "Lust For Life," will spark outrage as well? After all, it's pretty unlikely that Mr. Pop actually spends his vacations playing shuffleboard on the Lido Deck with elderly cruisers.
Or what about the Igster's song with the Teddybears, "Punkrocker," used in a Cadillac ad--does Iggy really drive a Caddy? Or what about the Stooges' "Search & Destroy" that was once famously used in a 1996 Nike ad? Has Iggy ever been spotted wearing Nikes?
Looks like the ASA has quite a case here...