Magazine Apologizes for Offensive Gandhi Images

WASHINGTON, February 2, 2003: A massive online protest by Indian activists from many countries has forced Maxim, a British and American soft-porn magazine, to apologize for its literal Gandhi-bashing caricatures in its latest issue.

In that issue, a martial arts expert is show in a series of cartoons "exercising" by beating up a character that looks like Gandhi.

The apology from editor-in-chief Keith Blanchard came after more than 5,000 Indians clogged the magazine´s e-mail addresses with protest messages. Many of them followed up the online protest with angry telephone calls. Maxim vacillated a great deal before coming out with the apology, however what seems to have finally worked was a threat by IndiaCause, a US-based activist group, to approach advertisers with appeals to stop giving ads to a publication that has "insulted the apostle of peace." It even put out a sample letter to corporate heads on its website.

Issuing the apology late Thursday, Blanchard said: "We apologize if our cartoon depicting Mahatma Gandhi...was interpreted as offensive. An edgy sense of humor, laced with irony, has always been a central element of Maxim´s editorial. For some people, this piece may have gone one step too far."