TVNZ Rebuked For Scary Adult Promo During Kids Movie

A decision by the Broadcasting Standards Authority to uphold a complaint that a promo for The Shallows shown during Finding Dory breached the children’s interests standard.

Not surprisingly, the BSA said that the promo, which featured sinister and scary shark related content, was inappropriate for a child audience which would likely have been disturbed or alarmed by it – especially during a fish-water-themed movie.

This is not the first time TVNZ or other broadcasters have failed to think. For example, a family watching SpongeBob Squarepants early one afternoon were confronted with a promo for Reservoir Hill which featured what appeared to be a dead body and then a girl trying to gouge another girl’s face. The family said it was ‘quite disturbing’ and not appropriate for young children to watch.

Family First is regularly contacted with concerns about promos for later, and more adult, programmes being shown in the afternoon or during family movies on the free-to-air channels. There has also been concern about these types of promos during the news hour when young people may be watching.

Family First has been calling for promos for adult programmes to be shown outside of family viewing programmes and movies, and news programmes.

Parents are sick and tired of lunging for the remote to protect children from offensive and inappropriate content during family viewing hours. The broadcasters need to be more sensitive to the target audience – especially where children and families are the target audience.