Domestic Violence Ad Banned

http://www.womensaid.org.uk/cutmovie

Advertising censors have banned the above anti-domestic violence ad for being ‘too violent’.

The Cut was made for the charity Women’s Aid, and launched in cinemas at the beginning April. It stars actress Keira Knightly who plays a women returning home to her boyfriend who then assaults her. It was hoped that the ad would be aired on TV in May but will now only be seen on British television if scenes showing actress Knightley being thrown to the floor and kicked are axed. 

Charities working to combat domestic violence branded the decision by Clearcast, the ad approval body, “pathetic”, arguing that, in banning the advert, it is shielding the public from the reality of domestic violence. In fact, Clearcast have had only 2 complaints about the advert.

I wonder if the 250,000 children each year who witness their mother’s being punched in the face might find the ad too graphic? Or the 13 million women who call the police every year to report assault; being dragged around their living room by the hair, spat at, slapped, head-butted, raped, strangled, burnt with cigarettes, knifed and maybe kicked in the head like Knightly in the advert, might find it all just a bit too distasteful?

~ by colley on May 6, 2009.