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To censor or not to censor...
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| To censor or not to censor... |
| 10.05.03 (3:21 pm) [edit] |
I was reading an article in the Sunday Star Times regarding a Calvin Klein advertisement that has been removed from bus shelters in Auckland for being, as the complainant stated, “too sexualised”. Marketers removed the ads straight away despite the fact that it was approved by the “media people”. It is interesting to me the way in which broadcasting standards are continually being questioned in our society and the way that advertisers continue to push the boundaries and create racier and more provocative advertisements to try and sell their product to the consumer. This also brings into mind the recent anti GE billboard featuring a woman with four breasts crouched on her hands and knees and attached to a milking machine as if she were a cow. These images are intentionally created to stir up debate and provoke responses from the public – and it usually works. The later advertisement was featured on television news as well as Internet sites and newspapers. Dave even had a copy on his desktop. The Calvin Klein ad was shown adjacent to the newspaper article. In both cases it is clear that old saying ‘all publicity is good publicity’ rings true. Both have had far greater exposure and far more coverage than they ever would have if they had not pushed the boundaries.
These examples bring me to question the way in which society is becoming more indifferent to violence and aggression, to the point that news organizations and advertisers have to provoke to even be noticed. I wonder if the proliferation of the Internet has anything to do with this. As the Internet is a ‘free’ media space which can show almost anything – and usually does, we, as a society are becoming indifferent to shocking images, sex and violence. Therefore in many cases, the advertising we see in our physical environment (advertising that is becoming more and more prevalent) also becomes somewhat invisible to us unless there is something different, shocking or provocative about them. New media applications such as Photoshop have also helped in the creation or these images, but as we become more aware of the abilities of digital software to manipulate images and create fake ‘realities’, we become far more pessimistic. I think computer games are much the same. With the ability to create realistic animated worlds, the violence become that much more realistic and we continue to become a ‘dubbed down’ culture.
I wonder if games and images that we see on the Internet are so realistic and shocking, and if we see images of gore and death on our screens each night via the television news, then why is it so bad the Calvin Klein have a steamy poster? Who are we trying to protect? The children who play the games and watch the news? I’m not necessarily saying that they should be allowed, but I am questioning what, if any sort of consistency exists with the censorship today, and wonder how it will continue to change (become more free?) in the future.
Something to think about anyway.
(Katie)
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