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Out of the Blue
The sky's the limit
Flight attendants can fly anywhere for almost nothing -- but sometimes, there's a catch.
By Elliott Neal Hester
[03/21/00]

Daily Planet
Colombian woman caught with cocaine in her unmentionables
Smuggler's bra-stuffing scheme will cost her big.
By J.A. Getzlaff
[03/20/00]

Why we travel
It whirls you around, turns you upside down and stands everything you took for granted on its head.
By Pico Iyer
[03/18/00]

Wanderlust
How I lost my man in Cameroon
In New York, he was a failure. But here, he was a king.
By Shana Liebman
[03/17/00]

Travel Food Feature
No pain, no pleasure
For exhibitors and tasters at the annual Fiery Foods Show, merely tongue-numbing is sissy stuff.
By S. Forester Hayes
[03/17/00]

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Daily Planet is a collection of short news items -- one each weekday -- that evoke and illuminate the far corners of the world. To read previous items, visit the Daily Planet archive. Send all tips to DailyPlanet @salon.com.

The fuss started in late 1999 with a television commercial promoting the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS. Authorities quickly banned the spot, calling it an illegal promotion of sex products. Next, the French perfume Opium was whisked off store shelves because of its heady name. The government then moved on to the Chinese versions of Elle and Cosmopolitan magazines, requiring that their titles be changed and their front covers be purged of "Western influence" -- no easy feat.

Hemlines and necklines are the latest victims of the government's diligence. A suggestive subway ad for an Internet site peeved officials, who did not like its comely model, her cleavage- and thigh-baring outfit and especially its tag line: "Are you bored with living?"

Their solution was to tear down the ads and invent new advertising regulations that require models to be covered from 5.9 inches below their necks to 5.9 inches above their knees. And that's not all -- "suggestive" slogans have been outlawed too, ensuring that, for the time being, the people's answer to the question "Are you bored with living?" will surely be yes.
salon.com | March 21, 2000

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