Should this be allowed on tv?

[Elzaim]

My fiancee and I were sitting around watching the comedy network late one night last week when we saw this commercial:

WARNING! Extremely graphic/disturbing material. Do not watch if you get queasy easily!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FS02ZMvQjs

Needless to say, we were appaled and horrified that this commercial was on tv. I was so disturbed by it that I ended up having nightmares all that night. We both readily agreed that this commercial - should not be on tv, due to it's extremely graphic nature. I have since showed the commercial (after heavy warnings) to a few of my co-workers, and they too were horrified by the commercial and said that it shouldn't be played on tv.

I know that this company is trying to get across an important message about workplace safety - but I think they really crossed a line. I mean, what if a child saw this??

What do you think?

[Enriana]

For the link-phobic:
Narration about how sous chef girl is about to go to some engagement thing, but she is about to have an accident. Carrying giant pot of boiling oil, she slips on floor and screams as the oil hits her face, then flailing, then done.

I think after, like, 8 or 9 PM, commercials no longer have the same restrictions. I haven't seen something like this, but I have seen "sexy" commercials or previews for really gruesome movies, all after that time. I guess they assume children are asleep by then.

Honestly, I wasn't that disturbed. The commercial seems unnecessary, but the real "graphic" part is so short that it barely made an impression. I've seen much worse in, say, movie previews - should those be allowed on TV? Anyway, I deem nearly all commercials "unnecessary" - I'm a NetFlix girl and am always horrified at having to sit through any.

I can see how it could be disturbing, but really, the bad part couldn't've been more than five seconds. I'm the squeamish type, and I viewed it without issue. I can't really bring myself to be indignant or horrified.

Also, for the record, there are a lot of stoic, or morbid children, or just kids who simply aren't affected by this. And if your post is any indicator, plenty of fully grown adults are shaken by it. So I don't put any stock in the "what if the CHILDREN saw it?" argument.

[Helmcargh]

I think its not going to be very effective in what its trying to do:

1. The message of the water on the floor is lost in between the chatty part at the beginning and the screaming at the end. I had to lean forward to even hear what she was saying. And
2. Scary stuff like this doesn't make people more careful it just makes them scared and so they ignore the message (according to my social psych lecturer at least).

[EofS]

I didn't find it very graphic at all. You barely got more than a flashframe of the injury. It's not like it was being used to promote a product, it's a warning. The shock value carries weight, I should think.

You say you saw this late at night? Children should not be watching television late at night, and if they are then it should not be the broadcasters' responsibility to sanitise tv for them.

Personally I think it's no worse than our road safety adverts (some examples: 1 2 3) and they are shown much earlier in the evening. And your advert gives fair warning that something's coming - I jumped so much the first time I saw this advert because I had no idea it was going to turn out to be a road safety one.

(Obviously all links included in my post might be considered graphic, though as I say they're all shown on tv in the early evening here and the last is targeted specifically at teenagers. I think they're fine and normal, but that could be because such adverts have been shown here for years.)

Unfortunately I can't find the radio one I heard a while ago. But it was really effective.

[Cranberry]

I hate censorship in general (boo, FCC!), so I'm hesitant to say that anything shouldn't be on TV. I don't have a problem with the ad, anyway; it's a little over-the-top, but I don't find it scary.

[Enriana]

Oh, E, that last one made me laugh out loud and I couldn't explain why to the rest of the people in the household. "Uh, a.. teenager sort of... got run over."

It's strange that it's focused on driving; the teenager one and the first two could all be easily avoided if the kids weren't in the damn street. Those kind of commercials are moronic to pin on the driver. And why is a five year old crossing the street alone if she doesn't know to look both ways?

As for the third one, I'll just quote a YouTube comment on it: always put a seatbelt on your pizza.

[Seerow]

I grew up on Buffy. Maybe I'm just so used to more violent things then that that it didn't even faze me in the slightest.
As someone else earlier said I don't think its very effective as the reasoning for the accident wasn't very clear (dirty workplace) and you don't see much of the aftermath.
The don't-do-drug commercials we get here are worse then that, but bugger if I can find one of them now.

I can't be the only one who thought she was going to accidentally cut off her ring finger with that knife could I?

[EofS]

It's strange that it's focused on driving; the teenager one and the first two could all be easily avoided if the kids weren't in the damn street. Those kind of commercials are moronic to pin on the driver. And why is a five year old crossing the street alone if she doesn't know to look both ways?

The point with the first two is that the speed limit is 30 miles an hour and it is 30 miles an hour for a reason. If you run a kid over because you're 5 miles over the speed limit, you are very much going to be found at fault.

The teenager one isn't blaming the driver anyway, it's trying to get teens to pay attention.

[Huggles]

If by comedy channel you mean Comedy Central, than it might as well have been made of sunshine and rainbows. After 9, 10, whatever, they're almost completely uncesored. Fuck and shit, which are still very much censored elsewhere on tv, are everywhere. I agree that there are a hell of a lot of movie trailers much more disturbing and graphic than that commercial. I could understand being surprised by it, but in all honesty I can't see why this would get you up in arms with everything else that's on, even during the day.

Edit: Were you watching tv in Canada? I ARE AMERICAN and we likes the violence, and have no idea what Canadian tv or tv elsewhere looks like.

[Cranberry]

It's a Canadian ad, yeah, and she watched it on The Comedy Network, which airs a lot of Comedy Central programming. Canada's usually less uptight about the US when it comes to swearing, but I don't see as much violence in Canadian programming. I don't think the majority of Comedy Network viewers would be too bothered, though.

[Jazzy]

I think it was Spooks in which the first season finale had a guy's face being melted off by boiling hot oil; after that, this seems almost tame...plus, her injuries are a lot less severe than the ones which came up in one memorable biology lecture earlier this term, and those were real.

[Ailiel]

I didn't like this, and wouldn't want to be bombarded with it while watching something funny like the daily show. I'm all for showing whatever on TV, but it should be labeled so that people can choose what they want to watch. I also don't appreciate very disgusting commercials. I don't like commercials at all, but when they go from beyond mere annoyance and venture into the traumatizing or offensive, then it's gone too far.

And I'm not big on censorship of television either, and this commercial does have a message, however I don't agree with it being shown with no warning whatsoever that it contains very graphic and realistic imagery of a horrible disfiguring accident.

I don't like the car accident commercials for car insurance either, where the family is chatting, laughing, happily in a car, and are suddenly t-boned. It's just gross.

Someone who has been in this kind of accident, or who has a loved one who has been badly burned, could easily be traumatized by this graphic imagery. I thought it was very graphic. My mom is very sensitive and won't even watch my Buffy DVDs with me. Seeing this right before bed would be very upsetting to her.

Again, I watch Buffy, I watch Dexter, but that is my choice. I wouldn't want to be bombarded with this with no prior warning while watching Colbert Report.

My vote is, gross, sensationalist, unnecessary.

[danceu4ia]

VERY NECESSARY. I work part-time at an industrial setting, and let's say that the big man does not give a @#$%. Know your workplace rights off by heart, so you know what to do in such situations.The kitchen commercial scared me so badly because I know that stuff like that happens all the time...but not boiling water, it's corrosive, or caustic chemicals where I work.

The public transit in Windsor has banned the poster ads because they are even more graphic than the commercials. I've read the descriptions, and little kids might have to sit next to that poster for hours to wait for a slow bus. This I do not agree with, it is not a good idea. WSIB is pissed though.

Link for the posters the WSIB wanted to post in bus terminals:
http://www.prevent-it.ca/see-it-print-ads

[nanabobo567]

I've seen a whole lot worse. It'd startle me if it came on during any of the shows I watch, mainly consisting of cartoons, but that's just the principle. As it is, the commercial? Understandable. My dad recently had his leg amputated because some idiot wasn't paying attention to what they were doing and accidentally knocked a 3 ton press over onto my dad's foot with a forklift, mutilating it into a bloody, pulpy mass. As it is, the company is in big trouble because the press was supposed to be bolted to the floor, but they figured no one would be able to mistakenly tip over something that heavy. Whatever, though, that's pretty off-topic.

[Buttersauce]

This is nothing compared to Forklift Worker Klaus. Although I find it hilarious(if you find JTHM hilarious), the type of stuff that goes on in FWK is frighteningly possible. In fact, some of the cases shown have happened to my sister's fellow employees.

That girl's face looked like bacon. Good lord....