Over the past week or so former Ms World winner Rosanna Davison has been bizarrely selling the wares of Supreme Master Television on advertisements running on TV3 and 3E. (Supreme Master Television is available on Sky Channel 595)

The channel is all about learning healthy lifestyles and saving the word we are told by Rosanna who has a load of vegetables in front of her. (Things hard up in model land or are we seeing a Ickeism?)

Supreme Master Television is not merely cooking tips for the veggie inspired. According to their blurb

SUPREME MASTER TV is a free-to-air satellite channel broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a variety of engaging programs in English with over 40 languages and subtitles. Being the ideal television channel that brings to your life Nobility and Spirituality. Broadcasting on 14 satellites platforms across the globe.

This leads us to the Supreme Master herself Ching Hai

We will search high and low for a little love. For a little love to share with all beings in all corners of the world. Supreme Master Ching Hai, as she has affectionately become known to those who have had the pleasure to meet or work with her, leaves a message that walks the way of love. A renowned humanitarian, artist and spiritual visionary, her love and assistance has extended beyond all cultural and racial boundaries.

to millions of people around the world, including the needy and homeless, institutions of medical research on AIDS and cancer, war veterans of the United States of America, the disadvantaged elderly, the physically and mentally handicapped, refugees and victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and fires.

Through these works, we witness countless reminders of compassion, which is the trademark of this caring lady, and the international foundation that has grown out of her love and loving example.

Ching Hai (Wikipedia entry) comes with form – and I assume Rosanna’s agent did a bit of research before she agreed to doing the advertisement.

Ching Hai herself is no stranger to headlines. In 1997, President Bill Clinton returned a $640,000 donation from Ching Hai as part of his “Asian money� scandal. And in 2004, authorities in Florida shut down an artificial island she was building illegally in Biscayne National Park.

[Cult Analyst] Ross says Ching Hai’s followers have made her a multimillionaire, but the source of that wealth is unclear. Much of it comes from her merchandise, he says. She also dispenses large donations during international disasters, which Ross says builds her legitimacy and keeps money flowing in.

This brings me to the thing that got me interested in the first place – Section 10(3) of the Radio Television Act 1988 which states “No advertisement shall be broadcast which is directed towards any religious or political end or which has any relation to an industrial dispute.â€? If they banned the Trocaire and Veritas television advertisements one has to ask how this one got through! I’m not the only person thinking that this is a cult operation.

Here’s Ching talking about Divine Power & Breatharianism in a seminar broadcast on the channel.

So let’s see what the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland have to say – if anyone has a video of Rosanna’s advertisement I would be eternally grateful. I know that she’s not mentioning religion, devotion or otherwise but is she selling a veggie food ruse for this crowd’s operations?