Dear signers,
Many of you are aware that sadly, we live in a day and age where Australian children are being exposed to extremely graphic images on our local billboards, and in South Australia, the situation has become so bad, that I suggest that little ones there should no longer look at billboards anymore, and bus stop advertisements as well, in case these adverts pop up.
Despite our pleas to remove them and only leave them to mature audiences, and evidence suggesting that you can still create unsettling road safety adverts without blood and gore, the South Australian government and the organisation “Think! Road Safety” have continued to ramp up the horror by not only showing Mad Max-level, so-called “road safety” campaigns in public places, but even during commercial breaks of family-friendly programs on TV, such as Masterchef, which, I must remind you, is a G and PG-rated show. Beginning in March, in South Australia, very gory adverts have been shown during family time on TV in breaks of shows such as Australian Survivor, I’m A Celebrity.. Get Me Outta Here! and most recently, Masterchef has also begun to experience the same fate. I was thinking about updating my supporters much sooner about this, however, the gory adverts actually did [mostly anyway] stop for a while between April-May. However, they have now sadly returned during family-time.
See the horrific advertisements below. GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING! And remember that these are being shown to SA kids during G and PG rated shows!!
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPzyIrPqeSE
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJaMGBd2yMk
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkfe7rq2vtE (This one is thankfully tamer than the previous two, but still goes too far and once again, should only be shown to mature audiences)
I should also address that this advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M38H2mbgmV4 is thankfully not gory at all, but does have strong swearing, and is sadly also being shown during family time.
Like I said, graphic road safety adverts can sometimes be a great way to warn people to not be reckless on our roads. However, remember that such adverts are being shown to impressionable minds (some of whom can’t tell the difference between reality and fiction yet) who would be psychologically harmed by them, and become highly distressed, confused, and terrified when exposed to advertisements that are clearly only meant for adults who drive. Leave the ads until after 9pm during M and MA15+ shows.
When I was a child, there were some very creepy and unsettling road and even railway safety adverts during Saturday morning cartoons that did scare me. However, they weren’t gory. They didn’t even have swearing. They instead, relied on spooky music, a scary-sounding narrator, and good acting. That’s all you need to teach kids about road safety on TV. Here are a couple of the scary, but non-gory, safety advertisements that I saw as a child, in case you’re curious:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unIHXr5hC2M
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg6FQJ2FYIU
Because those four inappropriate and gory adverts that I mentioned are being shown during family-time, please consider sending a complaint to the Advertising Standards Board here: https://adstandards.com.au/make-a-complaint/ You can mention the billboards if you want as well. If you can please also provide this link to the petition as well: https://www.change.org/Protect_Our_Children_Stop_Gory_Advertising
Even though the Advertising Standards Board has failed to listen to concerned parents and other kinds of people in the past, for now, it still doesn’t hurt to try, in case action is finally taken.
Thank you so much. Please share with your friends and family. Keep it up! Let’s see if we can pass 250 signatures!
Note: Because gory adverts are increasingly being shown on TV during family-friendly programs, I am now considering changing our campaign a bit to not only concern billboards and other public advertising spaces, but also gory adverts during family-friendly shows on TV. So the title and our goal may be edited as a result.