Slashdot Mirror
Award-Winning Ad Taken Off Air In Australia
bol_kernal writes "An award-winning advertisement on Australian TV for the new Hyundai 4WD has been pulled from being broadcast after stations received 80 complaints from concerned parents. The ad consists of a small child, age around 2 years, cruising down the road, window down, arm out the window, in his new Hyundai 4WD. He sees a girl of the same age standing on the side of the road, pulls over picks her up, and they go to the beach together. All in all it's cute, funny, and very well done. The ad aired late in the evening (8:30 pm or later), but it was pulled due to concern from parents about the copycat risk. What I want to know is, where has the responsibility of parents gone? Is the world becoming so serious — or so frightened — that fantasy is no longer allowed?"
Geezus, we even had folks complaining about a *robot* who had a *nightmare* about suicide.
It wasn't sweet, or cute, it was disturbing, and wrong on so many levels... (apparently small, unnaturaly placed children disturb me)
You can learn a lot about a person if you just take the time to inject them with sodium pentathol
Hypothesizing about fantasy amounts to fantasizing! I move to have this story removed from /. Sign below.
In case you hadn't noticed, Australia is a de facto state of the USA now.
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PGP Key ID 0xCB8FF658
Is the world becoming so serious -- or so frightened -- that fantasy is no longer allowed?"
With one caveat. If it involves wealthy actors who play married hitmen trying to kill each other with everything from knives to rocket launchers, it's ok. Same thing with movies depicting armies systematically destroying each other with machine guns, bombs, flamethrowers, etc. Basically, the bigger the magnitude of the killing, destruction, and carnage, the more acceptable. The smaller the scale, the more freaked out people get.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
... that the article is accompanied by a Flash ad for Hyundai, featuring the exact same kid from the ad that was pulled.
Look at the tomato! Isn't it sad? He can't dance! Poor tomato!
Here's the ad on Youtube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=g37Z8Scbj8E
I always wondered where all the Bush voters came from.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
All in all it's cute, funny, and very well done. The ad aired late in the evening (8:30 pm or later), but it was pulled due to concern from parents about the copycat risk. What I want to know is, where has the responsibility of parents gone? Is the world becoming so serious -- or so frightened -- that fantasy is no longer allowed?"
Let me preface this by saying that I am a conservative Christian. Now, I have done some research and found out that most electronic devices that emit photons and audio waves have a switch which allows me to turn them off. The effort required to do that is even less than it is for me to get incensed and make a complaint. Why don't other people get this? Don't want to see it? Turn it off. Don't want the kids to see it? Turn it off.
Don't give those crazy 2-year-olds any ideas!
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
When it said copycat I thought they were worried that some stalker would get the idea to pick up a two year old girl and take her to the beach. Which is kind of a stretch, but somewhat understandable. But that's not it at all.....the parents were worried that two-year-old kids will see it then try to drive the family car.
I don't get this one at all. If you are worried about your kid playing with the car (which is understandable), why not teach your kids NOT TO PLAY IN THE CAR? The kids are eventually going to want to play in the car whether they see it on TV or not. And if you are really worried (because kids don't always do what you tell them to) then lock your car and keep the keys out of reach. Maybe won't work in every case, but it will have a much greater effect than removing a commercial from TV (and what kid old enough to open a car door would actually want to copy a two year old? By the time I was 4 I thought of 2 year olds as babies. I sure didn't want to copy them)
Qxe4
How on earth is a toddler going to reach the accelerator and brake pedals in any regular car, let alone a 4WD, whilst being strapped in to the driver's seat, especially given there's no way he could have been able to see over the dash board without sitting on a cushion or something?
It's sad that we're seeing this kind of braindead parental nonaccountability, invented in the US, spread like a disease to other countries. Cultural evolution will officially come to a screeching halt when nominally immune countries like Japan show signs of infection.
People getting scared, frightened about the most innocent things.
There is a saying I've heard many a time: HARDEN THE FUCK UP. Seriously, if people keep raising hell about such trivial matters, soon there won't be any imagination, any creativity, any fun in the world. People will be afraid to do ANYTHING due to lawsuits.
It will be a truly dull place to live in.
what on earth has parents being worried about their kids, the Santa Fe and advertising in Australia have to do with religion?
Jesus Saves
Whoa, whoa, whoa! I think we're all missing the point here, folks! It's not the kids driving and picking up kids, but how they're driving.
/.
Two-year olds driving, yeah, that's cool, but what if they start acting out what they see on TV and driving on the left side of the road? Trying to steer the car from the passenger side? What kind of example is the media setting for our kids?
Won't someone think of the CHILDREN!
Crazy foreigners, corrupting our American youth...
Yes, I realize non-U.S. citizens read
..for the horrible CGI of the baby surfboarding.
We had the ad screening here for quite a while in NZ. It's a two year old driving a car, for pete's sake. How can they be worried about copycat crimes? Two year old's still think throwing poo is fun... which it is... but that's beside the point.
Bugga
Is that all it takes to get something censored ?
I was pretty upset about that that commerical as well, those damn 4WD's are everywhere, they are a menace !
Fantasy is fine, but you know there's all kind of people watching tv. So, stop it, now.
So even though the advert in question is pretty innocuous I am not too disturbed if it has been pulled. As I see it, whats the downside, an advert is pulled. Whats the upside, a very unlikely (IMO) copycat event is prevented. I can live with that.
our CGI, video-composited, fake children overlords?
Ugh. Since everything is done with the 'children' in mind, they are in fact becoming our overlords.
Seriously. Can't you just hang your keys higher on the wall? Tell your kids the difference between TV and Real Life? Put a kill switch on the vehicle?
I know this is a commercial and all, but really. Why does the extent of my life's experiences have to be dictated by your inability to parent your children?
It's allowed, but human irrationality has to be taken into account. Playing on that is what makes this Ikea ad so effective. Putting babies in danger even in fun was perhaps ballsier than the ad creators realized.
Loose lips lose spit.
Maybe these people have never seen Look Who's Talking or or the either of the other two sequels - those baby's did a lot more interesting things.
Besides that, I am curious as to how a baby would be physically capable of copying that ad
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
Where has the responsibility of parents gone? Nowhere. Responsible parents were concerned about the ad - and voiced their concerns. The Advertising Standards Board responded to those concerns by pulling the ad.
I wish Slashdot reader would grow the hell up and realize parental responsibility covers a lot more ground than blindfolding little Stevie and locking him in his room, or handcuffing little Susie to the parent's hand.
There was a car ad a year ago (maybe it was for the Superbowl 2006?) featuring kids driving flying cars on buildings, across jumps, etc. all in slow-motion. I think the idea was that the cars were so quiet and comfortable that even the kids were enjoying the ride. Anyways, a group of parents complain that it sets a bad example showing underage kids, god forbid, driving and it was pulled.
I would just like to say a big FUCK YOU! to every moron who gets offended.
Remember one of the early South Park episodes where everyone in the city gets offended by the Christmas play that everything about the holidays gets removed and it ends up being a very dull and boring show? Everyone in the audience then complains and about it and then they get a lashing from Chef telling them how it was them that wanted it all removed? Dammit, have we as a society gotten so lost & midguided that we are now living in the real-life version of fictional cartoons that are supposed to be unrealistic? Whatever happened to common sense?
This happened in Australia, so all your talk about religion, sep of church & state, etc. is so far off base I don't know where to begin.
Anyways, here's what TFA says
So, if it was just the complaints, it is likely that nothing would have happened.
BUT, as it turns out, a literal reading of the applicable Code suggests to The Advertising Standards Board that the complaints are legitimate.
This is exactly why there are government agencies who do such investigations.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
This has nothing to do with religion. This is a bunch of do gooders who think they are smarter than everyone else, and therefore, have the duty to step into the lives of others. It's called "Liberal Fascism" and seems to be growing by the day.
I wonder if I use bold in my signature, people will notice my posts.
And all it takes is 80 unhappy parents to get the ad pulled? That's 0.0003% of the total population. Someone out there will be offended no matter what airs on TV. What if a company used animals in their commercials and PETA & Co. called and complained? Will it only take 80 of them to get that ad pulled?
During the 2006 Emmys, Conan O'Brien was in a skit that featured a plane crash. Earlier that day, a plane actually crashed in Kentucky. By Australia's logic, Conan's skit would have to be pulled because hundreds - if not a few thousand - people from the Lexington area thought it was in bad taste.
Honestly, if there were thousands of angry calls, then we could talk. But even then the whole thing would still be stupid.
I suppose you don't watch a lot of movies, play computer games, read books. You can (easily) find all possible kinds of fantasy there. That there are some people who try to also protect children (whether or not they did the right thing here is another question) hardly means that fantasy is no longer allowed.
The world becoming serious? The world has always been a serious place, and I don't think that ever in the history of the planet a place has been so free and playful as modern Australia, USA and Europe. You're seriously missing perspective if you think the world is "becoming" serious or frightened.
And yes, if something is less realistic, for example because of exaggerated scale, it's more acceptable, also to me.
Actually, at least one of the complaints was that a child of that age should be in an approved child car restraint, not a standard seatbelt. Given the press on this, I'd say it was a successful advertising campaign.
it might have been "cute" and "well done", but it certainly wasn't "funny".
"repulsive" was the first word that occurred to me when i saw it on TV.
... I'm afraid my kids will read this and grow up to be offended by everything.
So your saying that The Simpsons should be banned as it promotes two years olds chopping off their thumbs?
So do they verify that all these complaints are legitimate - or is this an easy way for a rival car company to screw up your advertising campaign - or for an ecological movement to hit back at gas-guzzling 4WD vehicles?
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
no not this one, but the ones where children eat all the sugary crap stuff ... or the ones where children eat all the junk food ... or the ones where children spend their time doing useless and boring stuff like playing with totally idiotic toys. Can I get pulled those ads too, please?
Being from a different region of the world, I do not know the ad mentioned, but whatever they show: why do those concerned parents let their children watch TV at "8:30 pm or later" where they can see those ads in the first place?
I am most concerned about these concerned parents.
Find me a kid who can actually do this and I'll find you the number to the child welfare office. And the crown prosecutor (district attorney).
what on earth has parents being worried about their kids, the Santa Fe and advertising in Australia have to do with religion?
Absolutely nothing. But that's not going to stop folks like the parent poster from screwing on their tinfoil hats too tight.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
...where are you when we need you?
First I thought the U.S. was becoming the ultimate pussy nanny-state (oh no, we can't see boobs!).
Now Australia did take their peoples guns away, now they're pulling a commercial we would probably allow in the U.S. Let the race to see who can be the biggest pussy begin! Hey! No running! Somebody might get hurt!
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
That's a relief.
If kids are gonna be driving cars.... I don't want to be in Australia.
;-(
Besides if kids start dating at age 2, what happens to poor Aussie slashdotters
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
The complaints and fears may have something to do with the fact that 2 children in the last 2 months have died in Australia from accidentally locking themselves in cars and not being found until a couple of hours later by which time their little are well and truly toasted (temps get up to 70C in a locked car here). It's probably a fear of the ad teaching the kids its ok to go and get in mums car rather than people thinking they'll drive off with it. Let's be rational here.
It is of course always easier to file complaints and blame corporations (or the government) than to talk to your own kids and teach them about life, TV ads, fantasy and the real world. Oh and tell them to go to bed at seven.
Why? Because filing a complaint is much easier and more efficient than expressing love, giving attention and spending time to teach important things to kids. Time is money you know!
These ads screen in New Zealand; I hope they continue to do so!
That's a very good point. By the sound of it, from the Australian /. crowd alone we could gather 80+ people who actually liked the ad and would like to see it stay around.
It seems to me that the problem is that the TV standards system is unfairly unbalanced in favour of "modding down" content - and could do with a method of modding things up to balance out all the prudes.
Having actually seen the add I can tell you that the presentation made me want to go shoot some babies, honestly, I'm glad its off the air, pity it wasn't for the right reasons (Cute enough to want to make me scratch your eyes out obscenity). As for the actual reason, there was something in the presentation that made it not right, and yes I can just see some 4 year old grabbing mumies keys while she is topping up the Prozac, and attempting to have some 4 wheel fun.
Pity they don't let evolution run its course now days...
GPLv2: I want my rights, I want my phone call! DRM: What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
As an Aussie may I be the first to say "bugger!".
Yeah we are like the states, in that we are also continually embarassed by our official representatives. They played the ad on the (after hours) news and talk shows the other night, I doubt it will stay banned for long. Besides, it doesn't really matter now since more or less all 20 million of us have paid some attention to it for free.
My hunch is all 80 of them belong to the bunch of neo-nazi's that call themselves the "Family first" party.
It's also interesting to note that this happened on the same weekend that Dick Chenney came to town. Security ground Sydney to a halt while Dick enjoyed a taxpayer funded $2M "beer with the PM", and (with not a little irony), pontificated about "violence and disruption".
"We want David Hicks back.": Our PM and AG will "do everything they can" except utter those five words since well they would...ummm....hand him over, as they have for every other nation after the US supreme court desicion was made a few years ago. This and several other issues has now made the PM's own seat in parliment very vunerable in the next election, (4% swing is required to unseat him). BTW: Please don't use the above information to infer the opposition are in any way more competent than the current crop.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Bloody Dianne Lamb strikes again!!
Why oh why can't she keep her head in!!
She always complains about everything on the TV!! I wish she would go crawl in a hole and not come out
If you don't know she is a person from Bendigo who complains about everything
Hyundai had this ad pulled as well, a while back. Poor guys, I found both ads quite amusing. Wowsers run the world, though.
I'm a parent of a 2 year old. I weigh the issue up like this: is a funny advertisement more important than the risk (whether actual, or potential - no matter how small) of a child imitating any of this and being hurt? There are many ways to make a funny advertisement, why not choose one that doesn't have this risk? Do we consider freedom of expression in an advertisement so important that we put it above this risk? If so, I'm a little worried about where we put our priorities in society.
Being an Australian is terribly embarrassing. Our accents are horrendous, but they can be very useful. I once stripped the paint off an old truck with just my voice! HAHAHAHA!
Anyway we've done all we can to imitate yanks, so now we must sit back and pray they finally notice us. Then our days of shame will be at an end.
"Tie me kangaroo down sport, tie me kangaroo down! Crikey, stone the flameeeeng crows, mate!"
From TFA:
"But under the Advertising for Motor Vehicles Voluntary Code of Practice, fantasy cannot be used when it contradicts, circumvents or undermines the code."
So, this is what censorship is called down there nowadays? Voluntary code of practice? Everytime they bring this subject on Brasil, "media self-restraint", "voluntary code of practice", "independent content review" a cold chill travels through my spine, remembering the (NOT) good old times of censorship there.
This advertisment never got any complaints in New Zealand. It was designed for NZ and I would assume they started playinng it in australia after it won the NZ Fair Go Top Advertisment award.
Here the only complaint we ever got was the fact that it got boring after you saw it for the first time and they wouldnt stop playing it.
Crap! I'm one of those lousy parents. I let my son watch waaaaaay to much television! He's 5 now and this has been going on for some time. He plays Simpsons Road Rage on xbox while unattended too (it's a great babysitter). I suppose it's only a matter of time before he jumps in the car and......oh......wait......OMG.......he uses Microsoft Train Simulater.......WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!!!
A kid driving a car around is just too suggestive I guess. Despite the text of the commercial saying, "This is a dream. Do not drive without a license. Obey all traffic laws."
YouTube link.
Its high time that the sterling advice to be found on The Onion were taken more seriously by parents:
_ experts_call_for
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/child_safety
Kenneth McMillan is a hero of the American People!!!
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Everyone laughs that parents are concerned about a copycat risk, but let me be the first to say that this risk is real. At the age of two I managed to get a hold of my mother's car keys. I decided I would do her a favor and start the car for her. Lucky for me, the car had a manual transmission and happened to be in gear. So as soon as I started the car, it slowly began to drive down the street. I wasn't quite strong enough to turn the wheel, so I soon found myself headed straight for a telephone pole. I got scared so I tried to stand on the pedals (at the time I didn't know which was which). After a couple of tries, I managed to find the brake. The car stalled about a yard away from the telephone pole. Oh, and did I mention, my baby sister was in the back of the car, in her car seat? Well, she was. Anyway, neither I nor my sister were hurt, but we easily could have been. Some children are already a handful; they don't need any more ideas. NB: this is a true story.
> What I want to know is, where has the responsibility of parents gone? Of course what you mean to say is .. Where the "bloody hell" has the responsibility gone?
We get our ads banned overseas because of apparent bad language - and this gets banned because a 2 year old watching The OC may see it during the break and go for a stroll to the garage?
Personally I don't really like the ad, but I don't see how the ad promotes unsafe driving practices when it is quite obvious the ad is not intended to be serious. I highly doubt any toddler that might see the ad (despite it screening later at night) would try to copy what they see.
http://pdf.cre8ive.com.au/www_adstandards_com_au/p ages/template.asp?id=3510 [WARNING: PDF] via http://www.advertisingstandardsbureau.com.au/
Derek
http://blog.thedunnydoor.com/
I like your post. I am curious, though, why you thought pulling the ad was over the top. To me it seems like common sense, given that a) children have poor judgement, and don't always do what they're told and b) parents can't watch them 24/7.
It seems perfectly plausible to me that some kid somewhere is going to wake up in the middle of the night, remember that cool commercial they saw earlier that day, sneak into his/her parent's bedroom and steal the car keys from atop the nightstand or inside a desk drawer, and then go downstairs, start the car, and, if they're lucky, drive into a ditch. I'm all for personal responsibility in most things, but children don't have the judgment to act responsibly in all cases, and it seems unwise to encourage them to do dangerous things.
Since it has become popular in this thread to mention religious affiliation, I will also disclose that I am a Christian, and (to preempt anyone from accusing me of being a lazy TV-addicted parent) add that I don't have kids and I don't watch TV.
Does anyone have any statistics on the number of car wrecks caused by underage drivers? I doubt it's a terribly uncommon occurrence.
and I feel nothing but good. I know that it will be replaced by more stupid ads, but my first emotion was deep satisfaction.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Children copy everything they see, this has always been the case. But a small amount of proper parenting can avoid any issues here... Please not, proper parenting does not involve complaining to other people! As a parent you can do any of the following:
- Turn off the TV (if you're whinging about the fact you don't know the schedule for ads, WTF is your 2/3/4/5 year old doing watching TV that late in the evening without you there as well!)
- Teach your children that cars are dangerous, do them a favour and try and give them a little bit of common sense.
Finally, the killer one...
- KEEP THE KEYS SOMEWHERE SENSIBLE! If you're worried about your child driving your car, don't provide them access to the keys.
On the other hand, if what another person said is true about an australian law banning car adverts portraying illegal activity is true, then I can understand them pulling it - but the complaints are just retarded...
.sigs are for losers
These commercials are incidious. Just like you dont get handsome, smart, creative and out-going from drinking Coca-Cola, but rather you may get more pimples, the sugar/caffeiene rush may boost you for a few minutes, and then over the longer run you get more dull and slow-witted.
You will be sure some kid will try this because it is shown on TV. Its not the parents job to foresee everything the child might do due to watching TV.
Rather, it is the parents duty today to bring up the kids without resorting to the TV and videogames.
Upbringing based on real-life, with real risks and real pain. Talking doesnt help when youre already living in a virtual reality. People talk about things all the time, complain about what should be done in the community. Talk is cheap. If you believe you have only one life, you better start to really live it.
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
There is a McDonalds advert airing here (Australia) at the moment which I'm sure has counterparts in other countries around the world, basically what happens in it is adults walking around freeze - then THEIR CHESTS HINGE OPEN and CHILDREN climb out to go get them Maccas! And they aren't worried about THIS advert being copycatted?? I fricken am! Haven't they SEEN Alien/s?!?
Here are some things I've noticed about my two year old:
- At her own whim, she will copy almost anything that she sees or hears
- The distinction between saying "You must try to drive the car" and "You must not try to drive the car" is VERY subtle to her toddler brain
- Controlling her actions is very different from the type of programming I usually do
- Like other two year olds, she does things that she knows her parents will not approve of
- She already pretends to drive our car, and has worked out how to sound the horn
I'm sure seing someone "like her" driving a car would be quite a powerful image to her.
Personally, I have no problem with 80 parents choosing to complain about this ad. You don't choose the adverts that are injected in to the programs you watch. Though my wife wouldn't approve, I can imagine a scenario where I was watching (what I considered was) an appropriate program recorded late at night with my daughter in the room.
"do gooders" thinking they know better than everyone else and have the duty to step into the lives of others. Sounds like the christian church to me!
Not that they have a monopoly on this, but they seem the *ahem* canonical example.
-josh
To me, fantasy is more than just roleplay. I actually think of the people who may have engaged in the behavior in reality, and judge for myself if it's good or bad fantasy. For example the suicidal robot is supposed to be a joke to most, and we've had a suicidal robot before the robotic arm: Bender. When I look analyze the fantasy, they're making a joke about going suicidal with the arm in a legitamate manner because he lost his job. To me the commercial is more sad than funny because in the past there have been many people who've killed themselves over the loss of a job. People who have lost a family member to suicide gets to relive it every time they watch this commercial.
Another example is Grand Theft Auto. Before I became a Christian and analyzed things to their core, I used to lay waste everything that walks or drives in Vice City. Now that I've moved away from anything that has 'bad fantasy', I don't play GTA anymore. The way I look at it is this,"There are real people who die from being run over by a car every year, and its a tradjedy. Why should I be eliciting morbid excitement over running people over. If I knew someone who was run over by a car, I certainly wouldn't be playing this game with the intent to commit vehicular homicide."
Finally I don't see the problem with 2 year olds driving in a commercial. When I was a kid, I always fantasized about driving like most kids. This commercial isn't going to add to the instinctual desire to drive. I'm just chiming in with my post because I have two unique views on wicked fantasy:
A longer look at this post entitled: Wicked Fantasies
Do you hate true evil and injustice with a passion
Just wrote this one up last night.
God spoke to me.
There was an incident quite recently in Oz where a young girl (like - WAAAY young) was driving a car in the bush chock-a-block full of friends, and with her dad in the back seat. Topping speeds of 140km/h on dirt roads, she lost control and slammed into a tree - a number of people in that car were killed, it just took awhile to sort out which head belonged to which body, etc.
.. bizarre .. decision, and why the same advert didnt have the same impact in NZ, or elsewhere. I remember that the news story kept popping into my head every time I saw the advert.
Only happened in the last couple of weeks if I recall, and was all over the news. It was in a small country town, so that one accident wiped out about 10% of the population or something. True story. There was a bit of outrage about why such a young girl was allowed to drive under such circumstances.
Might be sort of relevant to this
I mean that kid was surfing WITHOUT an ankle strap too. My god, cover the eyes of the innocent babes!
Nothing witty
To me your "common sense" seems completely asinine, because a) kids may have poor judgment, but any that are that stupid deserve any Darwin awards they might win by doing such a thing, and b) parents should be expected to have at least a minimum level of competence, and preventing their toddler from stealing their SUV falls well within that!
You know, back in my day people just weren't this fucking stupid! Seriously, when I was a kid commercials like this wouldn't have even been given a second thought, by us kids or our parents. For that matter, some of us even had those electric toy Bigfoot trucks you could sit in and drive around. If that wouldn't give the kid the idea to try out the real thing, what would? Now, consider the fact that I'm only 22 (meaning "back in my day" refers to only a decade or so ago) and you really have to wonder how people got this stupid, this quick!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
You wrote your name incorrectly, Mr. Innocent Bystander.
But realy, how many people complained agains Flushed Away? You know, children will see that "flushing" scene and then they'll certainly try that themselves, for example to see that "sewer city".
hany
That re-enforce my view that 1984 should be made required reading in every form of education. It's downright scary that it's not a government that is doing this, it's actual citizens, why do things yourself when you can convince everyone else to do it for you?
Good thing you don't have our commercial where a couple is driving on two wheels up the side of a building. That's got to be illegal. (Note that there is a disclaimer that driving on the edge of buildings is fantasy, and should not be attempted, iirc - this is America, land of the lawyers).
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Wow, and I thought Autoblog was slow to pick up stories. They had this one three or four days ago. It's a cute ad. Why is everybody afraid of Everything nowadays? Oh well. At least the kid didn't commit suicide...
Whatever happened to selling a product on the merits of the product? Just for fun, watch a run of ads and ask how many ads now show a product being used in a way that is legal, possible under the laws of physics and by human beings. It's so silly that most products aren't even products, they're sold as fantasies irrelevant to what they are actually used for.
Remember that most Parent Groups are very small, but very loud, groups! They do not represent the majority of the public, but somehow they always win...
I guess there should be another group consisting of "normal" parents who fight for common sense...
unplug the tuner, use only dvds/certified content, just like soviet russia did, it really worked well for them.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Is the world becoming so serious -- or so frightened -- that fantasy is no longer allowed?"
Only the fantasies of Americn fear are allowed. Look at us the wrong way and we'll level your country, rape your children and kill the parents.
Just because.
Yes, everything and everyone are to be feared. Always. You can never be too safe. Unless safety costs money - like 1/2 the Food and Drug Administration testing labs our administration is in the process of dismantling.
I have to say that I'm a bit annoyed at reading some of the comments on this thread, written by people who seem to think that people can do what they want and if its unsuitable for kids then its the parents obligation to screen everything to make sure it doesn't reach them.
This type of selfish mentality probably goes some way to explain why we have so many dis-illusioned kids out there today with no career prospects, doing drugs, drinking, mugging
passers by and just generally wasting space (I live and work in Central London and I see this every day).
We need to reach a point where the younger generations are collectively seen by society as something that needed protecting, as a parent I'm very glad that other parents were considerate enough to have an ad pulled that my children may have watched (without my knowledge) and copied, I'm curious as to why parents were the only once who cared enough to do this.
Television advertisers are in control of the worlds most influential medium, they must therefore be responsible in their programming, especially when it is likely to be viewed by the younger generations.
But ultimately, its not just up to them, we all (read - the entire human race) have a duty of care to the next generation and if theres something that might cause kids harm then its up to any and all of us to think about it and try to protect them from it.
Every time I think that my country, the US, is filled with people who like to whine, "Howard Stern this... Janet Jackson that...;" either the UK or Australia chime in with their next ridiculous thing. And you call yourself a country descended from prisoners!
Two biiiiiiig problems there...
First, you quoted an ambiguously self-referential standard there: Under the code, you can't do foo if it "undermines" the code. By that reasoning, you can say that anything violates some subjective interpretation of the intent of the code. The word "fantasy" just adds color without any real meaning, as anything short of a documentary would tend to fall into that category.
Second, the phrase "Voluntary Code of Practice". Voluntary means, in both the legal and logical sense (which rarely coincide, but in this case they do), "ignore this". Just a distraction from real rules, the sort that have teeth.
GM had a similar commercial once... a kid in a red Corvette. The kid drove the car all over a major city, then after going off a jump, while in the air, he sees a cute girl (presumably from his school class) going through the air in the opposite direction in a silver Vette. After landing from the jump, we return to reality and see him standing in front of a red Corvette with his skateboard.
The ad took a couple months to create, and was pulled within days due to similar concerns as this Hyundai ad.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE THESE DAYS?! IT'S FANTASY ON TELEVISION! IT ISN'T REAL!
So where would YOU draw the line?
Is it ok to show a commercial where junior plays with matches behind the garage, and winds up lighting the house on fire (cue the laughline)?
How about the one where junior sneaks into the movie theater and starts shouting "Fire!", then watches with amusement while all the adults flee the premises?
Because if you have children of your own, you realize that the most powerful form of learning for children is imitation. From a very young age when they literally learn how to syllabize by watching their parents mouth move as they speak and on into adulthood when they realize with a shock *gasp* that they've become their parents. It's where the saying "Do as I say and not as I do" comes from, because our natural inclination is to do the opposite, to do as we observe and not what we're told.
So let's look at the situation:
We have a form of media that cannot be planned for - even the most responsible parent in the world is not going to have an advance copy of the commercials that will be played during the broadcast they have deemed appropriate for their family to watch.
We potentially have children viewing it - whom we know learn from observation, and will tend to disregard what they are told (or cautioned about) to emulate what they have observed.
We have a commercial showing a child driving a car - without anything "bad" happening.
So please explain to me why you feel these parents were unjustified in their concerns. If you feel they were unjustified, then just where would YOU draw the line?
Anyone complaining about this actually have children?
What I *really* want to know is.... what the FUCK is this story doing on Slashdot?
Presenting a story about an (admittedly stupid) ban on a TV advert in Australia it as "your rights online" is really stretching things. I'm willing to bet someone out there will present a contrived argument as to how this really is "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters."
Well most slashdot stories are designed to trigger a load of misspelled comments from nerds about how dumb 'ordinary' people are. To work, the story needs to have a target group which is not well represented on slashdot. This one is couples with kids who watch TV and complain about adverts. Obviously, only a very, very small percentage of slashdotters have kids, and admitting to watching TV seriously uncool here. Real slashdotters spend their evening sitting and watching the build logs from Gentoo scrolling past, with Golum-like dilated pupils in their pitch black basement apartments. And people who call in to complain about anything are supporting censorship, like Hitler did. So the people that complained about the ad are actually an ideal target for the slashdot two minute hate.
Ordinary people are teh stoopid BTW, and did you notice my Orwell wiki link?
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
although 2am is techincally, morning- that's when it's gonna happen.
and they won't just bang you on the head, they'll whap you with something..
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Maybe they can take the lead from the Kia commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPGTCYdCHbA which was pulled off air in the province of Ontario after the police association complained about the stereotypes it portrayed.
The modified commercial aired last night and it was priceless. All references to police were pulled, but a black screen states that this is the new politically correct ending. The rest of the commercial was of a goat standing in a field eating grass. Sorry no link.
Cheers
Kenny
If it's a voluntary code of practice, then the ASB has no jurisdiction. If it's not voluntary, it's prior restraint... Unfortunately, we don't have the First Amendment here in Oz.
OK, I'm lost. What are we razzing parents for this time? :)
... {head explodes}
They shouldn't complain about commercials, because it is their job to monitor their children 100% at all times? Oops, wait, no, this is Slashdot, they should never monitor their children at all. So then we can razz them for being negligent, for not monitoring their own children. Er
One thing that disturbs me a lot about this thread is the amount of posters who believe anyone 'deserves to die'. Particularly if it is merely based on a persons intelligence.
I must be new here.
"Looking good Vern."
There seems to be a disturbing trend in ads to make children appear adult. I just saw a "cute" commercial in the USA which dressed children in adult business office attire and had them interact as if the boy were attracted to his office-mate little girl. The receptionist showed her subtle disbelief by rolling her eyes. Cute, but it touches on sexuality in a preliminary, exploratory way, as if those making it were interested in doing much more next time if this makes it past the public. I think we should stop it right here, now. We should be aware that the movie industry and the ad industry are not separated by some magic impenetrable barrier from the massive multi-billion dollar porn industry. Those working in both can, and do pass back and forth to make a living. We must be constantly vigilant for signs that lines are being crossed in the real world by those from an unacceptable moral viewpoint.
E Proelio Veritas.
You know, what's to stop the ad agency from calling in these "complaints" themselves, getting the advert "banned", and then rubbing their hands in glee while people actually go out of their way to see the ad and what all the fuss was about? I know I would have never heard or seen this advert if it wasn't for the fact it was banned...
-------
"Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,21170425-421, 00.html?from=public_rss
The incident is pretty recent - 22 days ago. Sorry, it wasnt her dad - it was a bunch of way-too-young kids who persuaded some local bloke (bit of a slow character by the sounds of it), to let everyone jump in the hilux and go for a yippe ride round the dirt roads.
We are talking about a 14yo driver and other kids aged as young as 13.
Very similar to what happens in the advert - except without the slow bloke, and the kids in the story have 10 years on the kids in the advert.
This story was graphically posted all over the news for several days running, so it was probably really bad timing on Hyundai's part to play this advert at this time.
Other than that, our advertising standards in Australia are delightfully liberal, and I dont think this story really reflects that reality. Just take the headline in some context and you'll be right mate.
Case in point, some 30 years ago, Coca-Cola sales were plumetting and Coca-Cola ran a 2 minute-long ad where children holding hands were singing around a christmas tree. This ad brought down zillions of advertising awards and whatnot, yet, despite that, sales continues to plummet.
Do you know many two year olds?
:o)
> Assume the worst,
Okay let's try and imagine if/how the worst could happen here...
> Junior sees the ad....
Toddlers could see this ad because their dad was watching something at about 6pm that he recorded at 9:00pm the night before. Two year olds take in everything they hear and see - I know I have two of them. They are also masters of mimicry, it's a learning device.
> how is a 2 year old going to do the following:
> Open the car door
They can open car doors. They learn to do it by watching adults. My 3 yr old son can get past every child safety door lock we have in the house. He can open stair gates and after watching me fix a door recently has figured out how to take a door handle off (assuming he ever had access to a real screwdriver). Never underestimate the ingenuity and exploratory nature of a two year old.
> Start the car
If the keys were in it - very easily. I agree the parent should be watching their child but we're talking worse case feasibility here aren't we? Aside from this they don't have to. They just need to release the handbrake. There have been (no I don't have any direct sources) a few casdes I remember in the past of kids leaning on handbrakes and they fail. All the car needs to do is roll along and the kid will think they are driving.
> Understand the controls
What controls? They will try to turn the steering wheel and that's about it. With an automatic transmission where the gear selector is on the driving column they just need to shift it around until something "clicks".
> Have his feet reach the pedals and be able to see over the steering wheel
Neither of these is a prerequisite for having an accident in a car. You just need to make sure it is moving.
Okay, having said all of that I should say that I think it is unlikely that a toddler would want to do this solely by seeing this ad but it may contribute. The parent's responsibility has not been removed but I am not sure that is why the parents complained. The ad could lead a child to think that children are able to do what they see on the TV and try it.
80 complaints is not many and I think the ad company probably pulled it to gain additional publicity (don't think they placed the calls though). Personally I can see why parents would be concerned. If only because a child seeing that ad would be nagging their parents to drive the car for weeks afterwards.
To the parents that think there children 'might' try to drive their car after seeing the ad should try showing their two year old a video of another two year old changing their own diaper and see if they can copy that. Frankly, if my two year old could pick up a chick and take her to the beach I would be jealous, not worried.
To be fair, the kid is driving like a maniac.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
I think the parents who complained are tired of having their kids subjected to advertisements. It's clear that these ads are targetting kids to nag their parents into getting these cars. Read up on "the nag factor" to understand how advertisers are trying to indirectly sell adult items through children.
That other /. article from today is right... there really is a delay in TV media getting to the Aussies after being released in the US...
I'm there for them. I make sure they know TV/Movies are for the most part no real, except news with is 50% real. :)
:)
From one point of view I can see how parents seem to have gone completely nuts. Growing up, doing the things I did, watching the things I did, would today land my parent in jail. Now-a-days it's blame anyone else, and blame Canada too for good measure. Parents on TV, at PTA meetings, parents of pre-school kids across the street. They all feel the need to blame anyone else.
True, it was easier to be a better parent when the parents didn't both work. At least someone was there t greet the kids when they got home from school. Now that parents can't be there all the time it has become normal to expect others to bare the blame for what kids see, hear, and think. I recall reading about parent blaming anything from books, music, TV, movies, and D&D, for the actions of their child. I feel for those people. Some I read about lost their kids. It's their stories that insures that I'm there for my kids. Someone needs to give children enough self worth that losing a D&D character is not going to make them kill themselves, or being insulted at school wont lead to a massive shoot out, and so on. Sure we have school, teachers, doctors, peers, and so on, looking out for kids, but nobody but the parents really has the opportunity to witness the warning signs.
You can't hold the ocean back with a broom. If a word from in a song can cause a person to kill themselves that is not normal. They have a massive problem. Not all problems are detectable, sure, but the parent need to be the look out. As parent we tend to blind ourselves and not see the faults in our kids. After all their faults might translate into our failures. Parents need to care and be accessible. I once heard someone say that if your child is afraid of telling your the truth you, that you did something to create that fear. My kids don't get punished for telling the truth. It they do someone their told not to do, but come clean I'll listen. I wont cut myself off from the truth. I wont blind myself to what is going on in their lives.
My kids don't like TV too much. We have a good enough collection of DVDs. When it's time for a DVD they almost always pick a computer animated movie. No other form of animation seems to do it. But one day my four year old got into my private collection containing Futurama, Simpsons, and the original Transformers. He loaded it up to the DVD menu and asked if he could watch it. I was surprised. Sure. I didn't mind. I was sure he would not like it. The animation was not that good. Now where there is allot of noise in the house and I ask "What are you playing?" they said "Transformers" or "Optimus Prime". They only want to watch Transformers now. They know all their names, and my four year old can work my 20th anniversary Optimus Prime which can transform into a truck and has the Autobot Matrix in his chest.
But the show is everything shows are not today. It was stunning to realize that. First off characters die. Then there is the fact that almost all characters have more than one gun, and use them all the time. It's a show about a war. About insane hatred. Good vs Evil. It also is episodic, telling a good continuing story. It really does beat the square pants off of Mr Spongebob.
A simple ad should not cause that much panic that it was pulled. The network might have demanded more from the parents. But they don't want the bad press taking a stand might generate. In this case I don't think parent were right. They had their hearts in the right place, but their heads in the wrong one.
I hope one day we demand more from parents. I think spending time getting to know their kids even more might make the word a better place.
Okay, somebody get me a latter. This soapbox I'm on has gotten really tall.
-- Prepared at the direction of, or to be sent to Legal Counsel, in anticipation of litigation. Attorney Client Pri
Because they're saner than the real world. Even my 4 your old nephew knows the difference between Burnout 3, TV, and real life driving. I wonder why that is, parenting perhaps? Oh wait! I'm trying to apply logic and reason to a situation. I've already lost.
For castles made of sand must eventually return to the sea.
OK, there are currently about 50 posts above my threshold, and I still don't see any addressing what seems to me to be the most obvious question about these ads.
What the **** are they afraid that these poor impressionable children are going to copy? Unless your 2 year old is at least 4 feet tall, there's no way way they could possibly copy this commercial. To start with, every automatic that I've ever driven requires the brake pedal to be depressed in order to shift the car into gear, and no kid that age could reach the pedals, even if they knew that was what they had to do. And it only gets more ridiculous from there.
If I don't put anything here, will anyone recognize me anymore?
Yaa. Man, I hate the voices too.
damaged by dogma
My thought here is that the goal of advertisers is to have their commercials remembered and talked about so that people will think about the product. Seems to me that by cancelling or restricting the commercial they have only succeeded in making the commercial even more succesful. Lst I checked there were 355 comments about it on this site alone. It is being talked about all over the world and I think that the commercial is a roaring success!! On another note --> Props to the person who mentioned that a 2 year old could not reach the pedals of the car. I mean it's really rock bottom when people complain about things like this when they're not even theoretically possible. I suppose they'd better take Loony Tunes off the air too because some kid might build an Acme rocket and launch his friend to the moon!!
We do not watch sports. I might do so if I lived near something I wanted to see live (that has not been true since I lived in Wimbledon a long time ago).
I know a lot of people who have TVs primarily for sports (at least sports are the reason they will not give up the TV), but they end up watching a lot of other stuff as well.
As for what we do: web surfing, reading, listening to the radio (usually a background to something else), talking, going out, entertaining (we either go out or have visitors about one evening in three)
Wow. That's just...wow. This is Slashdot. If someone posts 'How do you watch Star Trek?' then it makes sense; Star Trek is not optional. But sports? Seriously, can you not imagine a non-crazy person who doesn't watch sports?
My mom watches figure skating and gymnastics, and sometimes others would watch too, but aside from that, my family of six (mom, dad, three boys, and one girl) didn't watch sports. A lot of people don't.
We would read, watch TV, play games, use the computer...but never watch sports, and never read magic scrolls. When did watching other people play a game become a required activity? If you can't imagine a normal person living without TV, you need to try doing it yourself. As I said, I have a TV, but, gosh golly gee, I don't need a TV.
...about the delay from US tv to the land of Oz/Nz.
American Idol takes a year to reach their airwaves/sat/cable, IIRC, and the theory might
be that the stupidity is less contagious, perhaps.
Then something like this comes up, and well, proves that stupidity doesn't have a half-life
and is extreemly infectious after even a year's delay and digital/analog transmission
vectors are the main source of infection.
Curious.
Perhaps someone should do a documentary, or maybe a TV drama?
oh, wait...
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
What respectable child wouldn't be trying to drive by that age? If a child is curious, he plays with machines like cars. This is what *car keys* are for.
And yes, society has grown quite stupid in terms of responsibility. Blame the lawyers. Liability costs our society billions, maybe trillion of dollars every year--and those are dollars that never get reported, that never make it into a cost assessment, because they're things like "you can't climb a ladder if you're not trained" and "you can't give first aid to your student if you're not a nurse" and "we can't have overnight stays at the health center because liability costs too much money."
Parents complain about the "violence" in The Last Unicorn. A good guy threatens to kill a bad guy (Well, he threatens to turn all his toenails growing inwards, too,) and the parents complain because their kids can get suspended or arrested today for a "death threat" in school. Guns in E.T. were digitally replaced by walkie-talkies... and didn't you hear, Greedo shot first?
Guess what? Kids still throw things at each other. They're SUPPOSED to. Pine Cones? Snow cones? If it's not a rock (or rock-like), sure, it's fair game.
I'm pretty sure that everything that you do to keep a thief from stealing your car would also work on a 2 Year Old. Just keep track of the car keys and this will not be problem.
I never said I wasn't selfish, only that the vast majority of parents are more selfish. I'm happy to admit that I don't like having children around because their noise, mess, and self-absorbed parents bug me.
Everyone acts in naked self-interest. All I'm trying to do is fight the notion that parenting is somehow altruistic, at least when the species or society isn't in demographic danger.
Anyway, I'd rather pass along my honesty to the next generation than your smug, self-certain parental superiority.
This is very much like the Kia ad running in North America now. It has an average guy in a Kia stopped at the side of the road with a blonde woman in the front seat making out with him. Then she gets out puts on her police hat and gets in her police car. Apparently its setting the women in the police force back by decades! That despite the fact that when they pull someone over they have the gun and the power to put the cuffs on for a jailterm. Fantasy apparently has no place in reality any more. Except what we are supposed to believe that the government or CNN tells us "Believe us, everyone else is lying."
You want what? by when? Sorry we haven't finished the time travel project yet... that's next week.
Thank-you for not breeding."
Good Lord, some people out there think that having children is the like the 'highest calling' in the world. It isn't. It is simply the result of fucking without protection. It feels good....children can be the result of it...and the cycle continues.
But for God's sake, quit acting like you are doing anybody a favor by having a kid. You want to do it? You want to sacrifice years of your life and money for it? More power too you...but, you don't deserve a bit of praise or extra help to do it. Your choice...your burden.
This would normally lead me up to my rant about why it is wrong for people to get an income tax 'break' for having kids...and since those that don't have kids don't get the break...they are essentially subsidizing your ass.
But, not time for that rant today...
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I dont know what the fuss is about, its an ad, the kids in the ad are 2. Children that young do not steal your car and go for a cruise. Are these people retarded, who really thinks this stuff actually happens. I havent heard about many 2 year old car thieves.
I am Australian and i have seen the ad lots, its just another bit of lame advertising aimed at making people buy stuff. There is no reason to overeact and people who complain about the benign crap in the world but dont worry about the actual issues that affect us all will be the first against the wall come the reveloution.
"Dark Wings, Dark Words"
He sees a girl of the same age standing on the side of the road, pulls over picks her up, and they go to the beach together.
That was a boy driving? Damn. I thought they was simultaneously advertising Hyundai and lesbianism. Even better to target those youngsters, years before they are old enough to drive or start having sex.
"The commercial should never have been aired in the first place, it shows so much bad judgment that it is sickening."
Really? what's are the bad judgements? did it teach kids to steal? to lie? It's a commercial. Red Bull should go too, god forbid someone actually thinks that they are going to Grow some wings. Thats got to be a moral problem right there, where are the christians complaining that you can bypass hell and earn your wings by buying a red-bull?
Besides you don't let your kids watch T.V. until they are old enough anyway right? I mean sure, muppets, and Disney channel, or what not, but this add doesn't exactly fit the car buying demographic of a telletubby...
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
"what's are the bad judgements"
Should read :
What are the bad judgements?
Lol, sorry shoulda previewed.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
Are we really this stupid to actually believe just because a 2 year old infant sees another 2 year old driving that it'll actually be able to repeat the feat? That it'll get its pops keyring, find the right key, open the car door, enter the main seat, sit down, turn on the car, reach the accelerator with its tiny feet etc?
are we this fucking insane?
I don't feel like it...
Where are our children?
No, seriously, parents should really supervise their kids more instead of fighting over stupidity, relying on censorship and ratings, and using "ritalin technology" like V-chips and filtering software so that they don't have to do the parenting themselves.
Watch every TV show/movie with your kids, watch every Web site your kids visit, make sure you watch your kids when they are outside, etc. All problems solved, no laws, software, or ratings needed.
Television is a lousy babysitter anyway, and lousier still are parents who delegate it to that role.
If some a-hole car peddler thinks it's "cute" to suggest to my kid something that's dangerous, I get him off the airwaves AFTER I tell my kid not to do that.
Advertisement makes a parents job a lot trickier when considering tv, the lineup is not published or rated like regular shows. Regardless of where you stand on regulation, shouldn't we the consumers be informed of what materials are going to be beamed down to our tubes so that we can make an informed decision before we polute our brains with brain washing propaganda? Remember that these adds are crafted by people who study the field of marketing, which has its roots in psychological warfare. I think the decision isn't the best solution but it's a symptom of people working in a framework that is fundamentally dishonest and broken. somebody think of the children?
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.