Austrian advertising is not like American advertising.

First of all, nudity is not generally an issue. Naked or clothed–doesn’t make a heck of a lot of difference here. OK, when a poster came out with this rather adorable image on it, some Viennese got uptight and pasted bumper stickers over the naughty bits. But that was an exception to the rule. This is, after all, a country in which men routinely jog and swim in their tighty-whities, women sunbathe in their bras or topless, and both sexes just can’t wait to shed their kit in anything resembling a co-ed sauna.

Second, ads can be really earthy. Potty humor, whatever, it’s all good.

Third, quite often it seems like ads for art exhibits etc. are designed to be as unappealing as possible. All I can figure is, with so many events going on around town, advertisers feel like they have to work a little harder to get attention. Sometimes they hit the mark, but sometimes you are think, WTF?

Some recent ads I’ve snapped with my cell phone on walks around town.