"Tom And Jerry" Smoking Scenes Banned

From Yahoo.com:

LONDON (AFP) - Smoking scenes in "Tom and Jerry" cartoons are now banned in Britain, following a viewer's complaint to the government agency that polices the airwaves.

In one episode of the classic US cartoon series, Tom is seen smoking a roll-up cigarette in a bid to impress a female cat. In another, Tom's opponent in a tennis match was seen smoking a large cigar.

Following an investigation prompted by the anonymous viewer's complaint, regulator Ofcom said Monday that children's TV channel Boomerang has agreed to edit out scenes deemed to glamorise or condone smoking.

"We note that, in 'Tom and Jerry', smoking usually appears in a stylised manner and is frequently not condoned," said Ofcom, recalling how the cartoons were made in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s when smoking was not so controversial.

"However, while we appreciate the historic integrity of the animation, the level of editorial justification required for the inclusion of smoking in such cartoons is necessarily high."



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Good Lord!

I'm not usually in favour of editing chunks out of "classics" to pander to modern sensitivities, but in this case I think they are probably right.

I think that it would have ben a ludicrous (sp.?) objection, had it been not on a programme that children frequently watch, or a programme that didn't activiely-glamourise it—or if it did, its target demogtraphy would be educated enough to make their own decision (which in mo would be always 'no'; if they had the right facts—but that is another story all together.).

In this instance, I agree.

Preposterous.

Since when did smoking a roll-up cigarette impress anyone?

You want a quality brand like Benson & Hedges.

What a load of carp.

Bring back the Black and White Minstrels.

One viewer can force the edit of 60-year-old episodes? Sheesh.

I agree that new programming shouldn't contain smoking, but classics like Tom+Jerry should just be kept as they are. A kid is hardly going to start smoking because he/she sees a cartoon cat having a fag.

I think they're called Revels now.

I thought Minstrels were exclusively the chocolate things, Revells were a combination of those, Maltesers, chocolate covered nuts and those orange balls covered in chocolate?

I have to disagree with that decision. It's absolutely pathetic. And what's even worse is that some sad weirdo actually complained about it. I grew up on Tom and Jerry and I've never smoked once in my life...so there's some proof that it has no effect. What do people think children are? Robots that can be brainwashed? I know some children will grow up to be smokers - that's inevitable - but I think it will have more to do with relatives smoking around them and peer pressure than what two cartoon characters are doing on TV. As they grow up, children should be allowed to make their own decisions about whether they smoke or not.

To be honest, I'm against editing TV programmes altogether. Just because a programme no longer lives up to the modern social ideals, it doesn't mean we should erase all memories of past eras. TV shows are a reflection of the time in which they were made. We should be treasuring them, not erasing them.

That is awful, Tom and Jerry is vintage it shouldn't edited just because of a complaint! Gotta admit it was funny though

http://www.lazyorange.net/junk/ham.jpg

What's the problem?

Foghorn Leghorn encouraged me to smoke crack and I've never looked back.