Top Gear in trouble for mock ad depicting suicide
Top Gear ad for the VW Scirocco -- Click above to view the video after the jump
It should be well known by now that if you play with suicide on screen, you're going to hear about it. Sometimes it's from prevention groups who want shows to "stop using suicide as a punchline." When it comes to Jeremy Clarkson, though, it isn't a question of whether he knows, but whether he cares. Probably not. But this time the complaint isn't from a health group, it's from the UK's television watchdog the Office of Communication (Ofcom).
Top Gear is in the crosshairs again -- in fact, the show is coming close to making more news for the news it makes than the cars it covers -- for depicting graphic violence before the 9 PM opening for such images. The show made a mock ad for the VW Scirocco that includes a slightly violent and lingering treatment of suicide, and fifty people complained about it. In a case of art predicting life, you can see the agency exec's reaction in the fauxmercial after the jump, and Captain Slow's tidy summation.
[Source: Times Online]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
UCJR 9:08AM (11/10/2009)
I liked the 'Berlin to Warsaw on 1 tank of gas' commercial more.
But I particularly enjoy that despite Britain being 'socialist', their television is raunchy, funny, and absolutely irreverent, and seems to get away with a WHOLE lot more than stations can on American television.
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CaptPugwash 9:36AM (11/10/2009)
"despite Britian being socialist" what a dumb ass comment, what the hell has politics got to do with it.
They get away with more because the British have a sense of humour and do not take ourselves too seriously.
Rich 9:37AM (11/10/2009)
If you think Britain is socialist, you need brain surgery (see above).
cranez24 10:03AM (11/10/2009)
Notice he said "socialist" (as in Sweden,Canada,Britain) and not socialist (as in USSR,DPRK,PRC,etc.)
The difference being, the odds of getting shot for having a certain political stance(or in some cases having a political stance.)
Victor 10:12AM (11/10/2009)
Nevermind the "socialists", we would get a far harsher (and swifter reaction) reaction from "real patriotic" Americans if stuff like this was shown on TV here.
jv2k 10:26AM (11/10/2009)
Stuff like this shown on tv here?
American TV shows suicide all the freaken time and there is tons of raunchy humor on our primetime cable blocks and even the network ones. I don't think people care as much in the US when a guy offs himself.
The only problem with US censorship is that boobs aren't allowed to be shown. We are actually more OK with violence than our european cousins. Personally I can get all the boob I need from the internet and real life. Violence can be more necessary to story telling or an action sequence so I prefer it this way than the other. Though a lift on both would be great.
On a side note this comment system sucks.
doc b 11:35AM (11/10/2009)
It said "Berlin to Warsaw in one tank".
much funnier with the gas. if there was "gas" added to the end, it would make no sense.
November 15th...can't get here soon enough.
Atlas 2:41PM (11/10/2009)
UCJR
Yes, Americans really are dumb. Socialist this, socialist that, you don't even have a clue what socialism is, and besides...people are happier over there, so why do you keep whining?
McCarthyism isn't dead yet, apparently it lives on in the minds of 'joe the plumber'.
TigerMil 12:21PM (11/10/2009)
boobs can be shown, nipples/areola, not so much!
It's changing, but slowly.
Bring on the beaver!
UCJR 12:32PM (11/10/2009)
cranez24 and Victor seem to have 'gotten' the underlying meaning of the quotation marks.
Atlas, I don't see how my post was whining towards anything. I complemented Britain's television networks, whilst poking a bit of critique towards America's.
doc_b, yup, I guess I missed on that one. This is why i'm not a Top Gear writer :-D
hoyaCS08 9:09AM (11/10/2009)
I love how these "some group is upset with Top Gear" stories usually come out right before the new season. I guess the groups are trying to make their complaints timely, but really it just serves to remind us car fans how awesome the previous season was.
Can't wait for Sunday!
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Blackstar 5:27PM (11/10/2009)
Me neither. Counting down the seconds.
Wonder now what 'trouble' we'll be seeing this season. It also makes me think that the more these rating groups piss bitch and moan about the content the better the next season will be.
As Clarkson might say... "Bring it on." ;)
Affalterbach 9:10AM (11/10/2009)
But since this only appeared on one segment on top gear, and didn't air like a proper commercial, what is the problem?
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Rich 9:43AM (11/10/2009)
My 2-year old loves watching Top Gear. Now I have to pre-screen the whole thing.
I found it entertaining, but this sort of stuff should be on the 10pm-2am shows. Not prime-time on the first non-mainstream channel that every UK TV viewer pays for.
Creep 9:11AM (11/10/2009)
Pansies.
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grey golem 10:08AM (11/10/2009)
Oh would people HTFU! I am sick of these whining PC nazi's. I don't agree much with clarkson but I'm going to write top gear right now in support, and the offending offendees to just grow up.
I don't find christ crucifixion or disaster jokes funny, but I let it slide because it's how some people deal. Just get a life. Don't like it, don't watch.
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Glock23 12:07PM (11/10/2009)
What if the show depicted the death and someone just commited suicide in YOUR family and I told you just to shut up and change the channel? Sounds crappy in that light, doesn't it?
warren 1:59PM (11/10/2009)
Glock23, a lot of people have sensitivities to a lot of things based on their own life experiences. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but you can't really cater to every last group of people with issues.
Consider where a steady application of this philosophy would leave us: There's plenty of people out there who've lost loved ones in airplane crashes. Should we just never use an airplane crash as a plot device in a piece of work that's clearly fictional, just so those people won't get upset?
What if it was the lost of a loved one due to cancer? Should cancer be edited out of daytime dramas, then?
Car accidents?
Food poisoning?
Arguments with drunk people?
Anyways... I think it's better for people to be laughing at the idea of suicide rather than seriously contemplating it.
Glock23 2:20PM (11/10/2009)
Warren: there is a big difference between portraying death, suicide, ect in light of a movie or some story with a plot that makes a point verses a cheap attempt at a laugh. So you are not making the correct comparison.
Some of the most disgusting and vile things are played off in today's society under the premise it's for a "laugh" so everything can be ridiculed. It's wrong and it's what stupid people do because they are not smart enough to write any actual funny material.
mk15 9:14AM (11/10/2009)
The only interesting part was May's comment at the end. Death or a Sirocco... I would take the Sirocco.
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