Say No to Horror Movie Advertising on London’s Buses

[mentalhealthactivist]

Gone are the days when the handsome Marlboro Man would ride into a stunning sunset. Instead, our children today are exposed to terrifying scenes from the latest horror movies. Images of frightening monsters and nightmare-inducing grimaces that any small child would be unable to understand or process. Parents are helpless to the uncensored, wide exposure of R18+ movie posters plastered all over the city’s buses.

We can do better than that. Say Yes to sending horror movie advertising to the Land of the bygone Marlboro Man!

Please let me know what you think of it. Does it bother you as much as me. I have two little children and I honestly think it’s wrong.

Agree! IT and the recent Plague mask thing have been awful. What can we do?

I have often wondered this. People got so het up about naked men & women on the front of magazines because the children shouldn't see it...yet every time a bus goes past they are seeing pictures advertising the latest horror film. Baffles me.
I detest horror films because they send my over active imagination into overdrive...i wish they would put warnings on the TV before they show the adverts so that I have chance to turn the bloody thing over

I agree with you. It’s very concerning that awful images inspiring fear are casually laid in front of us and our children particularly. I get my arse on fire about a lot of what is on our mainstream media - there seems to be an energy towards normalising violence brutality and fear and I wonder what the idea behind that could be.

I agree. I guess one answer is to consistently and regularly complain to the ASA. Because if enough people do that, even if they are not immediately banned, the issue will get on the radar of of the organisation that is supposed to regulate these things.

I agree. I remember my nephew being petrified by a horror film poster in a bus stop. Crying and everything.

I also think there should be a warning before adverts as well. I do occasionally watch a horror film with DP but if he's out and a scary advert comes on I end up hiding under the duvet like a child whilst my brain goes into overdrive about possessed nuns in the wardrobe.

What the hell is the obsession with possessed things in wardrobes??! I have to make sure ours is fully closed before bed thanks to some stupid movie advert where all you saw were fingers round a wardrobe then eyes. Years on it still scares the bajesus out of me!!!!

Anybody who can create some of the horror movies nowadays is nuts imo. And stars in them...i'd be scarred for life

Whilst i agree that advertising 18 cert horror films where children can see the images is inappropriate and wrong, i think you picked the wrong compatator with the Marlboro man - he advertised (freely in front of children) a product that could actually kill them, not just scare them, and made it look so cool that millions took it up and would eventually die coughing in pain. Maybe pick bisto or great western trains as better vintage adverts?

I do think you can compare campaigns like Marlboro with it. Smoking cigarettes finally killed people, but horror movies live from the excitement of killing people / using the fear of dying and physical pain. And both nothing for children.

Yes! Completely agree, I hate these so much. Not just buses but billboards etc. I often find the front cover of horror DVDs too much (because I'm a big wuss) but at least I can choose not to look at those. Really unpleasant to show some of the images they do, even to the general population let alone for kids to see. Ugh.