Passengers arriving at Rome's Fiumicino Airport recently found themselves confronted by a large-breasted woman, cleavage exposed almost to the bottom of her sternum. From her billboard perch, she was attempting to interest travellers in the business communications products of Telecom Italia.

Those flying in from many other countries, and particularly from the UK or the US, would probably have found this fleshy advertising style archaic. These days, a naked woman lying unironically on the top of a car is about as cool in advertising as a rugged cowboy on the range, cigarette dangling from lip. Long-legged variety-show lovelies or immaculately unattired game-show hostesses are rare, if not completely absent from television. But in Italy, they are an everyday occurrence.