# Was I right to complain, or am I a fussy busybody? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 8, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144 "2007-01-08T14:13:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/1 "2007-01-08T14:13:46Z")
Driving into town on the weekend, we went past a large roadside billboard carrying a poster for an organisation called Smokefree (presumably an anti-smoking charity or some such) The ad consisted of a large, prominent head-and-shoulders picture of a child, apparently pierced through the cheek by a large, vicious-looking fishing hook, with tension pulling the cheek out in what looked like quite a painful way. My two children (aged 8 and 10) were sickened and shocked almost to tears by the image - they were still talking about it in a worried way at bedtime, despite my assurances that it was a fake image which had been made to make some kind of analogy. Now, I’m sure no actual children were hooked in the mouth, but that’s hardly the point - if the intention was to make some point about cigarettes, it failed - I don’t think there was any accompanying text, or if there was, none of us noticed it, but anyway, it’s a disturbing and unnecessarily graphic image - I don’t think my kids should have been confronted by it in a public space. So I wrote a letter of complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency. Am I being oversensitive? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/2 "2007-01-08T14:18:26Z")
I just found the image (or a similar one) online - I’m surprised to discover that it actually appears to be an NHS-related campaign. If you want to see the image (WARNING: WHICH AS I HAVE STATED, IS IN MY OPINION, GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING), paste this link into your browser: > **[GoSmokeFree - Get UnHooked!](https://www.gosmokefree.co.uk/getunhooked/)** > > Get UnHooked and live longer and feel better. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/3 "2007-01-08T14:19:56Z")
Agh. What happened? - I unchecked the ‘automatically parse links’ thing. Please could someone report that post for a mod to break the link (unless they consider it unnecessary) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/4 "2007-01-08T14:26:23Z")
I reported your link for you. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/5 "2007-01-08T14:26:58Z")
I saw a similar poster featuring an adult, near the station I use every day. It replaced the heart disease (tight chest) ad they’d had up there previously. Personally I found both of them distasteful and the new one is plain disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/6 "2007-01-08T14:27:43Z")
We’re all so helpful, I did too 🙂 I haven’t looked at the pic, but my cheeks are hurting just from the description. Someone seems to have been going to the “Benetton school of shocky advertising”. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/7 "2007-01-08T14:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] So I wrote a letter of complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency. Am I being oversensitive? [/QUOTE] The full name is the ASA **Ltd** [http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/4783c4d8f0a973a7c6a5dbff92ce8a63/compdetails](http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/4783c4d8f0a973a7c6a5dbff92ce8a63/compdetails) > [@](#): > > Name & Registered Office: > ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY LIMITED(THE) > MID CITY PLACE > 71 HIGH HOLBORN > LONDON > WC1V 6QT > Company No. 00733214 > > Status: Active > Date of Incorporation: 22/08/1962 > > Country of Origin: United Kingdom > > Company Type: PRI/LTD BY GUAR/NSC (Private, limited by guarantee, no share capital) > Nature of Business (SIC(03)): > 7440 - Advertising > > Accounting Reference Date: 31/12 > Last Accounts Made Up To: 31/12/2005 (FULL) > Next Accounts Due: 31/10/2007 > Last Return Made Up To: 19/05/2006 > Next Return Due: 16/06/2007 > > Previous Names: > No previous name information has been recorded over the last 20 years. They are just a self regulatory organization, about 26 years ago I told them to go swivel - they backed off. To be honest, poster advertisers probably view letters like yours as ‘proof of awareness’. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/8 "2007-01-08T14:31:19Z")
I agree with you that that’s not an image I’d like to explain to my kids on a billboard. OTOH, it’s pretty likely that it’s real, not a faked image. I don’t know if your kids would be soothed by learning about Jim Rose’s Circus or not, but there are dozens of performers who do piercings and hang, dangle, or swing heavy objects from them. It doesn’t hurt anymore than pulling your lip with your finger, as I’m sure they’ve done making faces to one another. But yeah, nasty image, inappropriate for children’s viewing without parental permission. If it was in a movie, it would undoubtedly garner it at the very least a PG-13 rating. If you want to email me with the email or snail mail address for Advertising Standards and the location of your billboard, I’d be happy to send a letter along as well. (Don’t post it in this thread, that’s be too close to asking Dopers for a letter writing campaign, which the mods frown on.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/9 "2007-01-08T15:03:10Z")
I’ve also written directly to the advertiser in question, explaining why I think their advertisement is inappropriate and ineffective. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/10 "2007-01-08T15:56:55Z")
My vote is that fussy busybodies are people who make fusses over the _potential_ for some _hypothetical_ child to be harmed. You had actual children who were harmed, so you are taking steps as a responsible parent and concerned citizen to minimize future harm to your children and others like them. Having said that, I almost put harmed in scare quotes, because I don’t believe that your children have been seriously harmed, and I don’t want to reinforce any fears you have that your children may have sustained serious damage. That’s not to minimize your objections to the image, which I feel are valid, just to reassure you that seeing an upsetting image will not scar your children for life. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/11 "2007-01-08T16:03:34Z")
Interesting, because my reaction to reading your first instance of the word ‘harmed’ was to think "well, I wouldn’t say _harmed_…’ I don’t consider my kids to have been permanently affected by it, it was just an unnecessarily unpleasant episode - just something that didn’t need to happen and shouldn’t need to be repeated. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/12 "2007-01-08T16:05:21Z")
What you haven’t got little gems like [this](http://www.quit.org.au/browse.asp?ContainerID=1639) yet, to make people turn off the TV. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/13 "2007-01-08T16:06:42Z")
I don’t equate “shocked” or “upset” with “harmed.” I wouldn’t have written the letter. I’m sure they see worse on TV every day. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/14 "2007-01-08T16:11:45Z")
Neither do I, but I still felt the letter was appropriate. No, they don’t see worse on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/15 "2007-01-08T16:14:23Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Neither do I, but I still felt the letter was appropriate. No, they don’t see worse on TV. [/QUOTE] Not even on the news? I mean, news coverage of an accident. Or hearing of a kid falling through the ice. Or seeing a building in flames and hearing about people jumping from the windows. Even cartoons can be violent and bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/16 "2007-01-08T16:15:50Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] What you haven’t got little gems like [this](http://www.quit.org.au/browse.asp?ContainerID=1639) yet, to make people turn off the TV. [/QUOTE] In a way, I think that’s more acceptable than the ad I complained about - if you say “smoking is bad, and here’s a person who genuinely has been affected by it”, that, within reason, is fine; same as if you say “land mines are bad, and here are some amputee children who were harmed by them”. Not the same as saying “X is bad, here’s a gratuitous image of something else that happens to be shocking, just to make you listen to us.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/17 "2007-01-08T16:18:47Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Not even on the news? I mean, news coverage of an accident. Or hearing of a kid falling through the ice. Or seeing a building in flames and hearing about people jumping from the windows. Even cartoons can be violent and bizarre. [/QUOTE] There are limits to what the news will show and say at times when children are likely to be watching. And of course you can simply not watch it if you’re really easily upset. I’m talking about a twelve-foot-tall billboard that is there all the time - there was no reasonable way to avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/18 "2007-01-08T16:32:05Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] There are limits to what the news will show and say at times when children are likely to be watching. And of course you can simply not watch it if you’re really easily upset. I’m talking about a twelve-foot-tall billboard that is there all the time - there was no reasonable way to avoid it. [/QUOTE] Well, one thing you have to keep in mind is that the vast majority are probably not in the least bit shocked or scared by it. There will always be extremes with regard to reactions. I would think a simple explanation about advertising and photoshopping and piercing would alleviate their fears. They may be too young to get the symbolism on their own, but with a little explanation, I’m sure they’ll adjust. How often do they have to see it? ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/19 "2007-01-08T16:49:39Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] \*\*Well, one thing you have to keep in mind is that the vast majority are probably not in the least bit shocked or scared by it. \*\*There will always be extremes with regard to reactions. I would think a simple explanation about advertising and photoshopping and piercing would alleviate their fears. They may be too young to get the symbolism on their own, but with a little explanation, I’m sure they’ll adjust. How often do they have to see it? [/QUOTE] The bolded part above sounds like a WAG to me. How do you know? There are other ways to advertise besides using a fish hook through a child’s mouth; obviously shock was the desired effect. Maybe the OP’s kids won’t have permanent damage from this, but that doesn’t mean the creators of the ad didn’t do something pretty sleazy, and counter-productive. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144/20 "2007-01-08T16:59:05Z")
I see nothing wrong whatsoever with writing that letter. It’s your opinion, you have the right to express it, and it’s good for the Advertising Standards Agency to hear it. I would probably write a letter directly to the organization who sponsored the ad, as well (or copy them on the letter you sent to the ASA). You certainly did LESS harm by writing that letter than the ad did to your kids. (Although I agree with you there was probably no permanent harm, I doubt anyone will lose any sleep over your letter, as your kids did after seeing the ad.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-right-to-complain-or-am-i-a-fussy-busybody/387144.md?page=2)