±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Two people complained about the poster created by BMG UK & Ireland, which said it did not believe the ad had not caused serious offence.

BMG said it had received no other complaints in the six months since the album 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below' was released and argued that it was no more likely to provoke violence than marketing campaigns for Hollywood films, like Bond movies, which feature guns and violence more explicit than the Outkast poster.

BMG added that Andre 3000, the man holding the gun, was one of the artists least likely to glorify violence and that the gun was pink and intended to be ironic.

The watchdog, however, did not agree and said that because the gun was smoking the poster implied that the gun had been recently fired, and that the colour of the gun, pink or not, was irrelevant.

It concluded that although the the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence, the poster could be seen to glorify gun use and was irresponsible.

The Outkast album is one of a long line of album covers that have had to be altered. In 1989, The Beautiful South's album 'Welcome to the Beautiful South' faced a similar problem when its original gun-in-the-mouth cover was seen as too violent. It was replaced by a cover with two teddy bears.

A second complaint that the poster promoted racial stereotypes was not upheld. BMG said that the American urban music scene was dominated by caricatures and that the two band members were inspired by, and paid homage to, flamboyant artists such as George Clinton and Sly Stone, who they regarded as cultural icons, not stereotypes.