We might agree that a billboard depicting bestiality is inappropriate not because it is likely to drive lots of people to commit bestiality, but because the depiction on a giant billboard visible to everyone who passes nearby is tasteless and offensive on its face.

In this case, the HBO image might be really cool and edgy if it appeared, say, in a trade magazine, or on a premium cable channel, or somewhere else where its visibility is a bit more controlled. Hopefully, the HBO marketing execs at least considered whether the image, on a huge billboard in a crowded city, might be inappropriate on its face, without regard to actual psychological effect.

“I have seen a few. some of them recently. that don’t look like any of them to me.” So perhaps it was wishful thinking on the article writer’s part.

That being said, billboards are very obtrusive. They’re not like cable tv channels that we can just switch off. Drivers, pedestrians, and others often cannot simply avoid looking at them (indeed, they’re designed and placed to grab our maximum attention). So IMO the folks who post them have a duty not to post graphics that too many people would find tasteless or offensive. Thus, if a lot of people feel that way about the Absolut ad or the HBO ad and complain about either or both, the ad(s) should be taken down from the billboard(s).