S** & D***s & Rock 'n' Roll banned in Liverpool (pub in Siberia)

A popular website in Irkutsk was fined 100,000 roubles - $2,830 - after it posted an an image advertising a party at Liverpool Pub in the Siberian city. The advert was apparently advertising an event to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the pub.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the region saw the advertisement as a violation of the law due to 'obscene or offensive expressions' and demanded the fine. The website owners challenged the issue in court, saying that the 'advertisement' had been posted anonymously to 'add an event' and it was for information and not a commercial advert. 

The Irkutsk court dismissed this argument, seeing the posting involving a slogan born in the Cold War as an advertisement. The wording was studied by an 'expert council' comprising members of religious denominations, universities, officialdom and the media.

They considered that there is 'a song and the movie of the same name', court documents made clear.

The court decision dated 10 February 2014 stated: 'Taking into account the fact that the phrase 'Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll' is one of the main slogans of the 1970s and its popularity came in 1977, when the song by Ian Dury appeared with the same name 'Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll', and this slogan promoted a certain lifestyle, promiscuous sex, drug use, and music in the genre of rock and roll, the court concluded that the expression 'Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll' contained in the considered advertising, based on the historical perception, is nothing more than a slogan 'Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll', aimed at promoting of sexual relationships, as well as drug use'.