Political ads at cinema?

[FilePhoto]

I took the dc to see the new Railway Children film, rated PG. (It was rather lovely btw, not as good as the original but a lovely way to spend an evening)

Before the film started there was an advert about trans rights. A really weird advert tbh. They very briefly mentioned "intersex" people, despite that being something entirely different. And lots of "trans rights are human rights"

Now, while I'm definitely GC, I don't hate trans people or whatever I'll no doubt be accused of. I'm all for them having rights and living life how they want (as long as we keep single sex spaces)

But surely the cinema, especially a children's film, is not the place for political ads. I can't remember any other belief system/political issue being shown before a film. Why is this one allowed?

I’d walk out and ask for my money back. I don’t mind them advertising phones and other crap, but I mind them indoctrinating my kids. Adults are an appropriate audience for political adverts. Children emphatically are not.

Wow! Who was the ad sponsored by?

What I will say is that often people who sponsor this stuff don't see it as political. They think, well, it would be ok to have an ad supporting multiculturalism, or women's rights, and this is the same.

@MangyInseam

It is the same. I support those causes, but it’s still not appropriate to make my children listen to political content when they want to watch a nice film about trains.

I agree, I think even uncontroversial stuff is not really appropriate in that setting, but I think it's not obvious to a lot of people. It's become very normal to see these kinds of messages in every possible venue. Even shoe shopping!

@MangyInseam no idea who sponsored it. I was quote shocked at seeing it and can't remember. I think it was about conversion therapy.

Cinema advertising is not subject to the same rules as broadcast advertising, so you can get political ads in the cinema that wouldn’t be allowed on TV.

They need to be appropriate to the film being shown but that just means you can’t have nudity or swearing, etc.

MangyInseam makes a good point.

What I will say is that often people who sponsor this stuff don't see it as political.

But it is political, and the insistence that it’s not political is also political. It is a weapon to shut down disagreement.

It sounds nice, but is actually totalitarian.

"It’s not political, it’s just human rights!"

"It’s not political, it’s just being a decent human being!"

Agree with what I say, or you’re not a decent human being. You can therefore be cancelled, abused, sacked, assaulted or imprisoned.

It's an interesting conundrum, really. In a society that was comfortable with a population with very homogeneous beliefs, you could easily imagine that you could have public messaging in all kinds of settings that were quite specific about what people believe.

On the other hand, if your social belief is about diversity, and you want to really promote things like cultural diversity, it suddenly means that you will almost certainly have people and groups with beliefs that differ significantly, and telling them they are wrong is not accepting of cultural diversity.

That being said, in a private business I guess they can accept what ads they want, but they might be sensitive to feedback that they aren't appreciated.

I agree with BlackForestCake that different rules exist for cinema. I'm so old I remember that the famous Labour isn't Working advertisement that was credited with helping Margaret Thatcher to victory was actually launched in cinemas.

However, a few years ago, Digital Media Cinema (who control most of the advertisements in the major cinema chains) controversially banned an advertisement which involved people (including the Archbishop of Canterbury) reading the Lords Prayer on the grounds that it didn't allow political or religious advertising. Assuming you saw The Railway Children at a Vue, Odeon etc, it might be worth complaining to them. I suspect that double standards will apply and they will see conversion therapy advertisement as ok.

It is particularly insidious that it’s a children’s film. This is proof of the purely intentional ideological grooming going on.

Would you consider writing to the advertising standards agency; the cinema chain; you MP if they are doing their job neutrally and aren’t trans gender advocating zealots?

Reminds me of living in China and having to sit through state propaganda on tv and cinemas.

The only difference being that China is an authoritarian state and the UK isn't. Supposedly.