Has anti-Bulling advert gone too far

hitlersson666

An anti-bullying advert that was ruled too shocking to appear on television was launched today.

The film, which includes scenes where a teenage girl sews her own mouth shut, will be shown online and in cinemas before films rated 12A and above.

It is part of a £1.2 million campaign launched by children's charity Beatbullying in memory of bullied school girl Megan Gillan.

The 15-year-old, a student at Macclesfield High School in Cheshire, took a fatal overdose of painkillers after being bullied on social networking site Bebo.

Her family endorsed the campaign and said they hoped "no other family suffers the loss we have".

The advert promotes a website, cybermentors.org.uk, which allows young people who have been bullied to help each other and discuss their problems.

A spokeswoman for Clearcast, which decides which adverts can be shown on British television, said it was felt some scenes would be viewed as offensive.

Beatbullying's chief executive, Emma-Jane Cross, said: "We are proud of this advert and the way it makes you stop and understand the impact bullying can have on its victims.

"But we were disappointed that Clearcast refused to let this advert go on to TV. We know that 69% of young people have been bullied and it is imperative that people know cybermentors.org.uk is there to give them support.

"If just one more vulnerable young person gets the help they need from CyberMentors, then all of the hard work and generous donations put into this advert will be proved worthwhile."

A statement released by Megan's family said: "We believe Megan would have supported and benefited from CyberMentors, so this dedication is a fitting legacy and one which, we hope, means no other families must suffer the loss we have."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/6987601/Anti-bullying-advert-too-shocking-for-TV.html

Hmm IMO yes?? But what about yours?

DonJose

Moo...ve along, no bulls here.

minidazzler

No, I don't think it goes too far. Bullies on the other hand tend to go too far. TBH, I won't think it goes too far until they show a victim of bullying actually commiting suicide, it a terrible thing that should be addressed blatently.

Hank_Jones

I don't think it goes too far, the girl killed herself because of bullying.

Some people are mean though, maybe they need to be shocked just to realise that what they are doing affects others in a certain way.

Some people just aren't strong enough to stand up to that sort of thing.
When girls bully as well they get into the other girls head and torment them mentally, which is probably horrible.

anomalous

i thought that was pretty tame compared to some of the speeding and drink driving adverts but maybe that was a shortened version either way i dont think it should have been banned

Michael B

People need to be shocked now to take notice so no I don't think it's going too far. Kids take their own lives because of bullying, that's going too far.

hitlersson666

Actaully all of this is very true.. makes me think now?

hitlersson666

Intresting reaction to say the least!!

bitemybanger

Somone calles you names in school and you drop him/her with a swift puck in the mouth any you are considered the bully.
Gone are the good oul days:rolleyes: Tiz the day of the rat;)

BongoJuice

Were you bullied in school for your spelling?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

The probelm here is that it´s aimed at an audience that won´t listen and won't see themselves in the ad. A bit lke graphic drink-driving adverts.

Karl Hungus

It's not gone too far enough. Bullying is probably a bigger issue these days than it was before. In days gone by, a child was out of reach of the bullies outside of school. These days, with the internet and sites like bebo, facebook and all, anyone can torment a child constantly. People certainly need to be shocked, and this advert simply isn't shocking enough by far.

pirelli

bitemybanger wrote: »

Somone calles you names in school and you drop him/her with a swift puck in the mouth any you are considered the bully.
Gone are the good oul days:rolleyes: Tiz the day of the rat;)

That is because they fall over and fracture their skull and the school gets sued.

'Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you'

Obviously you shouldn't hit someone as unfortunately you cannot assault somone even if provoked and that's the law. However where this all goes south is when people in Authority implement their own policies which are usually aligned with the law but are nearly always abused and exploited by the higher ups for their own ends. Then it might be just easier to hit that prick that's provided he is a prick as it is a fine line between provocation and assault and the higher ups will humilate you by abusing their own policy and procedures and exploiting them as they see fit so that line between provocation and assault is much less of an offence compared to their cowardly behaviours.

So I don't see the problem with the 'rat' (person with a grievance) being honest and trying to use a policy to make things better but it is a shame as their is always an ulterior motive along the way that ends with the higher up abusing policy in favour of another. It is not always so corrupt but yoru usually bullied because they can get away with it.

Overheal

Im with Karl on this. The advert doesn't go nearly far enough in getting the message across.

And they call this too shocking? I assume the Drink-Driving ads are still on TV? Those graphic re-enactments of toddlers and teenagers getting run over, sideswiped and crushed by Drunk Drivers?

Just to be clear: They could go way farther with this ad. I'm not exactly sure what about the ad is offensive - I'd be much more offended by Bullying.