EU sex scenes clip stirs controversy
An EU video clip of sex scenes and orgasmic cries in European movies has led to a series of complaints, but Brussels is defending its newest communication tool.
A couple tearing off each others' clothes marks the beginning of the clip which shows 18 different couples making love.
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The clip - titled 'Film lovers will love this!' and which ends with the double entendre "Let's come together" – is a video clip made up of sex scenes from European cinema and is one in a series of four made for screening in European cinemas to advertise the EU fund, MEDIA, that helps distribute successful films made in one EU state to others.
It is the most popular video viewed on the European Commission's recently opened YouTube channel – EUtube – with over 120,000 views so far. That is almost 100,000 more viewings than the second most viewed video about EU humanitarian aid.
The clips have been available on the commission website but the EUtube channel launched last Friday (29 June) has created another kind of viewing platform for EU promotional videos.
However, not all are pleased with the way the EU is promoting itself in the 44-second video.
Commission media spokesman Martin Selmayr said there had been a flood of complaints in Polish media about an intimate scene between two men, reports BBC news.
"The European Union is not a bible belt, we believe in freedom of expression and artistic creativity," he said, adding that the lovemaking clips were excerpts from award-winning films, and that the commission was proud of the EU's rich cinematic heritage.
"What can I say? It's a question of taste. It doesn't always have to be about press releases. These clips explain better what the EU is doing," EU communication spokesman Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, whose department is responsible for the EUtube channel, told the Sunday Times.
An earlier version of this article stated that there had been complaints from Poland about this clip. This was incorrect. There have been complaints in Polish media only.