Oh my god they've banned smoking in Tom and Jerry cartoons !?

Question

I realise this isn't a question but I had to express my disbelief at the stupidity of our society - we are talking about a cartoon cat and mouse after all. I don't know anyone thats started smoking because they wanted to look like a animated cat from the 50's

Answer 1

Well I have to say that I started smoking at the age of 14 not because I wanted to look like an animated cat but simply because I saw the big black mama character as a role model. For several years I went around with a mop bucket and a tea towel over my head yelling "THOMAS!!!!" and a half lit cigarette in my hand. I think it did me a lot of damage and ruined my potential sex life as girls seemed not instantly attracted to me. Not sure if it was the mop and bucket or the cigarrete that put them off however I now realise that a 14 year old white boy dressed as a cleaner has not got a huge amount of appeal except in certain specialist areas. Still dont understand why when my cat brings in mice from the field,why they seem content to let the cat chew them to bits and dont leap out of the cats gob and smash them in the face with a frying pan,it seems the sensible thing to me

Now 46 still smoking and frankly I blame it all on Hannah Barberra or whatever they were called

Answer 2

Is that pathetic or what, you would think that all the violence between Tom and Jerry would have been more of a problem to the PC brigade than the ciggies, still I suppose with 1 in 4 children living in a home with violence these days and nothing been done about it, it seems the PC brigade think that's fine, for goodness sake its a damn cartoon cat and mouse, its not real and never did anyone I know any harm by watching it, guess its PC to belt your kids but not to let them see a cig.

Answer 3

A cartoon Cat smoking? Oh no!. It's not like a cartoon can get cancer is it? I've seen on that grim adventures toon , where Billy gets his face ripped off... Methinks thats worse a cig. Or the simpsons, when homer falls down the gorge and nearly get's killed. Cartoons are made to be funny aren't they? Isn't that the point?

Answer 4

The danger here is that if every single programme (including cartoons) is either removed from our TVs, or the "offending" item is airbrushed out, aren't we getting a bit too close to Orwell's 1984, where Big Brother manipulates the old news so that it never happened in the first place?!
Can you imagine what Groucho Marx would look like if they airbrushed out his cigar?? Smoking as a "glamorous" image was of its time, and should be left in as part of that time.
Shall we ban Oliver Twist (a classic) in case it tempts children to steal, or Treasure Island (another classic) in case it tempts children to talk to one-eyed, one-legged strangers??
Who actually makes these decisions???

Answer 5

Yes and then the happy slappers will be holding irons in front of joggers, who will then sue Cartoon Network because their teeth didn't grow back like they do on the television.

Seriously, this is another case of do-gooding gone mad. Are they going to cut the sections or just haze out the cigar (think that will lead to further questions)

Answer 6

Whats the big deal? They're not going to glorify smoking as a cool thing to do (as thats how it's been used in previous contexts). surely its a good thing.

Just like it's a good thing not to show cartoon characters getting drunk on alcopops and acting like thugs or any other negative thing that children shouldn't be subjected to.

Cartoons are aimed at children and it's illegal for children to smoke.

Answer 7

Uh...do modern kids even WATCH Tom and Jerry anymore? I thought that was strictly a relic of the 1930's and 40's.
I thought the majority of them were already banned, due to the stereotypical "black mammy" character that shows up in them.
Oh well, live and learn...

Answer 8

A poster company also airbrushed the cigarette Paul McCartney was holding on the cover of The Beatles Abbey Road, which is just as ridiculous.

Answer 9

This is downright stupid.

Ofcom needs to use its government funds more wisely than by performing a full investigation sparked by one person who cannot tell their own kid "smoking is bad, Tom is just smoking because he wants to die of cancer as he's sick of chasing Jerry and never getting anywhere."

On the flip side you can go and watch a PG film with Sh** and B**tard swearing in it.

Well I'm going to trademark my new invention of a bespoke funnel smokers will have to use to shield their *** from passing children.

Answer 10

THINK.

Stop reading a story and basing your opinion on it... DO SOME RESEARCH.

Telelvision guidelines, guidelines that have been in place for many years, state that you cannot show people smoking if a positive image could be taken from it.

So, you can't show someone smoking just before taking a winning penalty in the football match. Why? Because it gives the impression that smoking is good for you.

Have you complained about this before? Well I can't see you having done so on here.

Someone, quite rightly, pointed out that in a Tom and Jerry cartoon (AIMED AT CHILDREN) that Tom is smoking a cigarette to impress a woman. THIS WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN MODERN CARTOONS. Don't you get it? It's common sense. They are simply applying the guidelines which you haven't had a problem about until this morning.