Pakistan pulls 'immoral' condom commercial off air

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has pulled a condom commercial off the air following more than 1,000 complaints that its broadcast was immoral during the fasting month of Ramadan.

The commercial features a couple wondering how their neighbor managed to land a glamorous wife, only to have the beaming husband reveal his secret - a packet of "Josh" condoms. "Josh" translates as "excitement" in Urdu.

"People who complained didn't want such an immoral advertisement on television during the holy month ... They wanted us to take action," said Fakharuddin Mughar, a spokesman for the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority.

The advertisement had been voluntarily pulled by the Pakistan Broadcasting Association, he added.

Pakistan is an overwhelmingly Muslim country, where many people scrupulously observe the holy month of fasting and prayer.

It has a long history of banning items considered offensive. The YouTube video-sharing website has been banned for nearly a year after complaints that it carried material offensive to Muslims.

In another example, women in northwest Pakistan were banned last week from shopping unaccompanied during Ramadan, lest their presence distract men.

(Reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Lawsuit says two-year-old boy ate used condom at Chicago McDonald's

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - McDonald's Corp has been sued by a woman who said her two-year-old son ate a used condom he found in the play area of one of its restaurants in Chicago.

Anishi Spencer filed the complaint against the fast-food restaurant chain on Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of herself and her sons, Jonathan Hines and Jacquel Hines.

According to the complaint, Spencer and her sons were at a McDonald's restaurant in Chicago's South Side on February 4, 2012 when Jacquel picked up the used condom from the floor, and shortly thereafter coughed up a piece of it.

Both boys required medical care, and have suffered lasting injuries, pain and discomfort, the complaint said.

Spencer accused McDonald's of negligence for failing to clean hazardous debris from the play area, and failing to use appropriate security measures to help uncover "deviant activities." The lawsuit seeks at least $50,000 of damages.

"This is a very disgusting case," Jeffrey Deutschman, a lawyer for Spencer and her sons at Deutschman & Associates in Chicago, said in a phone interview.

He said he tried to settle, but was unable to do so after having to deal with "layers and layers" of bureaucracy at McDonald's, which is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

McDonald's spokeswomen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jonathan is now 4 and Jacquel is now 3.

The case is Hines et al v. McDonald's Restaurants of Illinois Inc et al, Cook County Circuit Court, No. 2013L002625.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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