Is This Too Far?

This is a billboard for the new Elisha Cuthbert movie, Captivity. It's currently the center of a controversy involving, not only the studio (Lionsgate) and the filmmaker (Courtney Solomon), but the Federal government!! That's right, because of complaints from people who saw this billboard and thought it was too much to handle, the FTC is currently considering imposing restrictions on horror movie advertisements.

Now, Mr. Solomon claims that these billboards were put up in error, but it seems to have garnered a ton of publicity and some of those more cynical people (myself included) think that he may have done this to get a bit more attention for his film. But the question still remains, is this too much? Would you hide your children's eyes from this billboard?

Personally, I tend to be a bit more liberal when it comes to this stuff, I mean, it's only a billboard, think about all the billboards you drive past on a daily basis and don't even notice. The fact that people noticed this one is a tribute to it actually working! But, we all know that it's just pictures, that Elisha Cuthbert wasn't actually tortured or killed, and, personally, I've seen things on morning TV that I would consider more damaging to children than this! MTV often plays hip-hop videos early in the morning that feature whoever the current rap star is with what could only be seen as strippers with them, isn't that a little more damaging to kids than a few pictures? I'm a big proponent of parenting, let parents decide for their kids, not the government. When I was little my parents set the rules as to what I was allowed to see and what I wasn't and because of that, I grew up understanding that things on TV and Movies and in magazines were 'just pretend'. In fact, it was this fascination with the 'just pretend' that actually got me interested in horror movies in the first place, a childhood interest in 'how do they do that' that still clings to my psyche to this day!

Should this billboard be placed across the street from the local elementary school? Probably not. But I drive past a billboard every morning for lip cancer that features an image that I personally find offensive, it's a man with a huge sore in his mouth holding down his lip so you can see the horrors that smoking can inflict on your mouth, I would much rather see an actress pretending to be kidnapped, tortured and killed than that particular image everyday after my breakfast!!

I guess the bottom line here is that we're all different, and that children will one day have to deal with that, if this were more horrific or graphic, I would probably side with the Feds and say get rid of it, but it's clearly an ad, and it's a good opportunity for parents to discuss with their kids some topics including advertising, women's rights, freedom of speech and maybe a little thing called 'just pretend'.

AT LEAST THAT'S MY OPINION!