Task 4 Abygail Jones

Is Censorship a Good or Bad Idea?

What is Censorship?
Censorship controls the products, images and content that certain audiences can see. Its deciding what is acceptable for different ages and is the suppression of speech that can be deemed as harmful, violent or explicit. Censoring these products is up to the government although there is self censorship where the viewer/consumer is the one that decides that the product is too harmful and turns away from it, this could be: putting an explicit book down or turning over the channel if the programme makes the consumer feel uncomfortable its basically deciding for yourself what is good and bad. Censorship can be as dramatic as banning an advertisement or film altogether and it can be as small as editing some text so that it doesnt effect the viewer in a bad way.

Is Censorship Good or Bad? The Bad Side

I personally think that censorship is a bad idea because; censorship fails to protect the audience most of the time, on the internet especially on websites such as YouTube, its very easy to get through censored barriers, if a video is protected against audiences younger than 18, its very easy to make an account, lie about the age and continue to watch the video. Something that really agitates me is when censorship fails completely, for example: 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James is readily available for anyone to see, its in book sto res and in supermarkets anyone can pick it up, including children considering the book is definitely aimed at adults thanks to the explicit nature of the text, it shouldnt be so easy for younger consumers to see it, let alone buy it I know 12 year olds who have the book, they were able to purchase it at WHSmith or Sainsburys this is not right, there should be an age limit of at least 18, they should also be asked for ID. I disagree with the idea that: violent video games have long term effects on consumers, games such as GTA (Grand Theft Auto), Quake, Saints Row, COD (Call of Duty) etc. are violent games with set age limits, as much as there is a few people that have been greatly affected by these games i.e. altering personality, for example: Qui Chegwei let his friend, Mr. Zhu Caoyuan borrow his Dragon Sabre for the online game, Legend of MIR 3. Caoyuan sold it for $675 leaving an enraged Chegwei who stabbed Caoyuan to death. As there are only a handful of these cases, I think its safe to say tha t the majority of gamers are not violent away from the console.

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I think in some cases, in some countries censorship is taken too far for example, any movie, item or TV show to do with Time Travel was banned in China, this was to, uphold the countries values and to not promote re-writing history. I think that this is a bad reasoning to ban time travel movies, TV shows and items I doubt anybody would attempt to duplicate time travel based off of a TV show, like Doctor Who for example.

The Good Side

Alternatively, there are good points about censorship. Some

censorship definitely protects children against harmful language, enforcing views upon them, hateful speech, obscenity etc. An example of this is how parents can filter search engines and block some sites from being viewed, sites that could potentially cause harm such as: Google Images, this has been banned in schools and in homes to prevent younger viewers seeing explicit pictures. I also agree with putting age restrictions on certain products such as: movies and video games, horror movies such as: Insidious which is a 15, has some horrific images, if a 10 year old watched it, they could potentially be scarred for life. For a game such as: Devil May Cry, rated an age 18 if a 10 year old played it, they could find it hard to follow or find some of the images scary or disturbing. Another example of this could be: The Human Centipede, which is not available to buy in stores and is very lazily hidden throughout the internet although, parents could use the internet restrictions to make sure their children or other people dont go on websites and look at obscene things or watch horrifying movies that could also potentially scar them for life. I do, in some respects, agree with the gagging order. The court or the government sets the order, which restricts the information that is made public. In 2011, The Independent found around 333+ gagging orders set in place, protecting the identity of celebrities. I agree that celebrities identities should be kept secret to ensure their safety; otherwise they might be at risk of stalkers or being harmed receiving unwanted attention etc.

Quick Conclusion
Looking at these examples in depth, I have decided that censorship is both good and bad! There are equal amounts of good points as there are bad points, censorship does need to up its game and become better in certain areas e.g. YouTube age problem, 50 shades of grey etc. but some of the areas it covers are well protected and effective.

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Effects in Advertising
Advertising is the most involved with censorship with advertisements constantly being banned or receiving a shocked response. When a company produces an advertisement, they want a good response from the audience, the response: they see the product and then they go buy it, whether its because theyre curious (passive audience) or because they need it (active audience). There is a sort of domino effect once a product has been advertised: the product awareness is increased; this increases sales thus increasing profits. The effects that advertising can have on people is quite impressive, it can cause a person to aid a charity, buy a new dress, shop at a particular shopping market, buy things they dont need, make people want items/products that they dont need etc. this mostly applies to the Hypodermic Needle model a passive audience will buy items that they dont need. The culmination theory: While one media source does not have much effect on the audience, constant exposure to this particular type of media can have a long-term effect. An example: watching women being mistreated in soaps on a regular basis can de-sensitise a person in real life to think that mistreating a woman isnt that bad. If an advertisement is broadcasted, the products from McDonalds for example: giving the viewer a quick glance at new burgers in a high definition, mouth-watering picture it will convince the audience member that they NEED a McDonalds. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has a set of enforced rules that all UK advertising agencies have to follow there is: Self-Regulation of NonBroadcast Advertising which has the following rules: Making sure that consumers are not misled, harmed or offended by ads helps to maintain consumer confidence in advertising. Advertising that is welcomed by consumers is good for business. It maintains a level playing field amongst businesses. It is important for fair competition that all advertisers play by the same rules. Maintaining the self-regulatory system is much more cost-effective for advertisers than paying the legal costs of a court case.

This information was taken from the website: http://www.asa.org.uk/About-ASA/Aboutregulation/Self-regulation-of-non-broadcast-advertising.aspx An example of an advert that was banned by the ASA is the: E-Lites Electronic Cigarette Gangnam Baby TV ad. The reason it was banned was due to complaints that the advert normalised smoking. This was taken from: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/sep/25/electronic-cigarettes-adverts-banned

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The most studied area for media impacts are: children, teenagers and young adults. This is due to the fact that they spend most of their time on the internet.

From the ages of 16 to 44 at the oldest they use the internet a lot more than ages 45+ who use the internet a lot less. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/rdit2/internet-access---households-and-individuals/2012part-2/stb-ia-2012part2.html According to my Critical Responses source, young people see around 40,000 advertisements per year whether they notice them or not! An example of a place that is densely packed with advertisements is Times Square in New York, USA. A single person alone can see up to 247 images per day whether they are noticed or not. Even if they are not completely noticed, it still plays in the back of the consumers minds and makes they yearn to buy the product. http://www.fluiddrivemedia.com/advertising/marketing-messages/

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Looking at this graph, we can see that we are exposed to a lot more advertisements on the internet this includes devices that can access the internet in various places with the use of Wi-Fi connections, items such as: computers, mobiles, iPods, tablets etc. Negative I think that there can be a lot more negative effects from advertising than good some examples are: Some advertisements can totally brainwash people in to buying products that they really dont need exposure to infomercials can cause a consumer to buy products that are made to sound good and can be over expensive and useless. Depending on the person and their mental state at the time of viewing the advertisement it can drive people to do unnecessary things; it can give them the wrong message and push them to be violent and act strange. Here Im talking about the Culmination Theory/ hypodermic needle model. Some advertisements contribute to obesity (any fast food advert e.g. McDonalds, KFC etc.), alcoholism (an advert selling alcohol e.g. the Tia Maria advert), smoking (The VIP smoking advert, offering the consumers to smoke the VIP way) etc. Some positive actions provoked companies to do something to stop the complaints and problems: Ofcom banned junk food advertisements which in turn, reduced the exposure of children seeing these adverts and asking their parents to get them junk food causing obesity.

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Positive There are also positive effects from advertising some examples are: Brainwashing people in to buying their products can bring in a large profit for the company. It increases the awareness of a product. It can give consumers information that they need: how much a certain magazine is, where to find a certain restaurant/shopping centre for example: the Junction 32 shopping centre advert.

In some places, censoring and advert effects are taken very seriously: Sweden, Norway and Quebec made advertising to children under the age of 12 completely illegal.

The European Union have their own rules and guidelines that adverts within the EU have to follow, these are: The advert must not persuade younger children to ask their parents to purchase the items being advertised It shall not show minors in dangerous situation such as: smoking, drinking etc. Childrens programmes can be interrupted if the scheduled programme is longer than 30 minutes.

The Committees of Advertising Practice (COP) are very detailed when it comes to dealing with children in advertising; the codes are : Harm Any advertisement addressing, aiming at or featuring children must not involve content that could harm their mental, physical or moral state. Credulity and Unfair Pressure Any advertisement addressing, aiming at or featuring children must not involve content that exploits their credulity, loyalty, vulnerability or lack of experience. Direct Exhortation and Parental Authority Any advertisement addressing, aiming at or featuring children must not involve direct impulse to buy a product due to their response mechanism (seeing an item, wanting it, asking for it). Promotion Adverts that require a purchase to take part and include a direct impulse to buy the product must not be addressed or targeted at children.

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(Conclusion) Should censorship be allowed? I personally think that censorship should be allowed as much as it seems there are more disadvantages than advantages, the rules are important and some of them are effective and 100% protect a particular group from a certain type of advertising. Censorship saves young audiences from viewing adverts that could potentially harm their mental and moral state thanks to COP with its rules and regulations. Censorship protects certain ethnic groups such as: the advertisements showing starving children in Africa etc. It protects adverts against racism, discrimination, prejudice, mocking etc.

There are some problems with censorship which I have previously talked about some ideas can be misleading (everyone has their own idea about the hypodermic needle model and the culmination theory). Some censorship doesnt make sense, films such as The Human Centipede are not sold in stored and is somewhat hidden away on the internet but its still found by younger consumers. Books such as: 50 shades of grey are easily accessible by younger consumers when it should really be hidden away etc.

What Groups Should be Protected by Censorship? I think that younger viewers are most likely at risk of being shown certain things that they dont need to see thanks to censorship putting restrictions and blocking pages on the internet is one way or protecting them against seeing unwanted images. The only problem I have with this is that: some children can be protected too much, not properly being taught about certain things until it surprises them at an older age, I think as much as things should be censored at certain ages, some less crude images should be able to be accessed by the child so that they are not completely in the dark and unaware. Certain ethnic groups should be protected too: protected against racism and violation of their rights, making sure that there is no racism, discrimination, prejudice, mocking of sorts etc. this would ensure the safety of the products profit and income.