Complaints Lead to Changes in FX's The Strain Billboards

[WhiteTigerShiro]

The newest horror series coming to FX The Strain, created by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, has upset potential viewers. Billboards promoting the show has a close-up of a woman's eye with a worm coming out of it, which many find deeply disturbing.

BuzzFeed first reported on the outraged reaction some people are having to the billboards, with a few claiming they won't watch the show out of protest. A quick search of tweets relating to this issue express extreme concern for their children seeing the imagery.

I can't help but think that these "potential viewers" who claim that they won't watch the show "because of the billboard" probably wouldn't have watched the show anyway. That said though, I can see how people might boycott the entire channel if they stayed up, so it probably is in their best interest to take them down anyway. All-in-all, I'm inclined to agree with the crowd that feels this was an intentional and calculated publicity stunt. Post some edgy billboards, get people (who wouldn't have watched the show anyway) in a huff, free advertising when popular news sites talk about the incident.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Isn't it hypocritical, though? It's okay to show on TV, but not okay on a billboard? This is going to be on the Internet like yesterday, so EVERYONE will see it anyway, especially kids. It's not gory, it's not sexualized, it's not anything negative. It's purely medical. I just dont see what's the problem.

You have to actively go to a channel to watch a TV Show. Billboards are thrust upon you no matter what you do and don't want to see. Also, removing a worm through the eye is not a medical situation, and that aside, there are plenty of medical situations worse than this that would not belong in public.

OT: I don't mind it but I'm all for people having billboards changed if they don't like them. No-one asks for fucking billboards, might as well exercise what control we do have over them so we don't have to tolerate them every day if they make us feel uncomfortable. And it doesn't matter if people were going to watch the show or not, I suspect most 'boycotters' weren't, but they're not asking for the show to be changed, they're asking that they aren't forced to look at a worm being pulled out of someone's eye every day on their way to work.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I don't really see the issue. Are people really that squeamish? Seems like everyone is being a bunch of big babies to me.

Everyone has their own tolerance levels.

 

[Kmadden2004]

Personally I find it pretty cool, but I see it could potentially upset a lot of people and I don't blame them really. Looks interesting though, they won a potential viewer here

EDIT: Oh wow!, this is the imagery they're going for in this show!?, holy shit!, they DEFINITELY won a viewer here!

Spoiler: Nightmarish stuff.

I think that photo may have come from an ad campaign for the first book, and not from the upcoming TV series, but yeah that's basically how the vampires are described in the book.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

I mean, it IS a horror series so I would think that it's supposed to give you the heebie-jeebies

Too much for a public area? Debatable

Boycotting it? #uwotm8

 

[Spakka]

Also, removing a worm through the eye is not a medical situation,

Actually, it is. 3rd world problems.

At least google some human parasites before making such a silly statement.

One such example...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loa_loa

 

[DementedSheep]

Isn't it hypocritical, though? It's okay to show on TV, but not okay on a billboard? This is going to be on the Internet like yesterday, so EVERYONE will see it anyway, especially kids. It's not gory, it's not sexualized, it's not anything negative. It's purely medical. I just dont see what's the problem.

Difference is if its on TV you can avoid seeing it if it disturbs you and you have more control over whether your kids see it (they might see it anyway but they would have to actually look for it). A giant billboard is a bit hard to ignore. It's not that gory but parasites or anything involving damage to eyes are the sorts things people get very squeamish about. It's not uncommon to have little issue with most gore but be disturb by something like that. I don't really think it needs to be taken down but I get why some people would have an issue.

Personally I find it pretty cool, but I see it could potentially upset a lot of people and I don't blame them really. Looks interesting though, they won a potential viewer here

EDIT: Oh wow!, this is the imagery they're going for in this show!?, holy shit!, they DEFINITELY won a viewer here!

Spoiler: Nightmarish stuff.

Eh I'm just trying to figure out how that thing actually eats anything with a mouth like that.

 

[BoogieManFL]

Whoever was in charge of giving that the go ahead should have seen this coming.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Also, removing a worm through the eye is not a medical situation,

Actually, it is. 3rd world problems.

At least google some human parasites before making such a silly statement.

One such example...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loa_loa

Fair call.

 

[Something Amyss]

Whoever was in charge of giving that the go ahead should have seen this coming.

Maybe they couldn't because they had something in their eye....

...I feel dirty for saying that.

 

[JarinArenos]

I'd like to thank FX for giving me this wonderful warning of what not to watch. That's horrifying.

 

[Alcom1]

I had to cover the image with notepad to read the article.

 

[JMac85]

In regards to the actual show, it seems like Del Toro is dipping his feet into that Lovecraft stuff he's always wanted to make. Specifically a film adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness.

 

[lacktheknack]

Isn't it hypocritical, though? It's okay to show on TV, but not okay on a billboard? This is going to be on the Internet like yesterday, so EVERYONE will see it anyway, especially kids. It's not gory, it's not sexualized, it's not anything negative. It's purely medical. I just dont see what's the problem.

You don't have to turn on the TV and watch it, but you may have no choice in driving down a certain road every day. I don't think it's hypocritical at all to demand that disturbing imagery be avoidable.

Also, they're pulling a worm out of a woman's eye to advertise a horror TV show. That's not medical at all, that's gory.

EDIT: Of COURSE people are bringing up censorship, showing that they have absolutely no handle on what censorship even is.

People: It's not censorship in any way, shape or form. No one is forcing them to do anything, people are just complaining and saying that the billboards upset them an are turning them off of the show, and the producers/marketing team is changing the billboards accordingly.

You know... paying attention to customer demands and "the customer is always right" and that sort of thing that's always being touted around these parts - until it affects you badly. Double-standard-holding hypocrites...

 

[Grabehn]

I find it kinda funny how some people said "we're not going to watch it in protest" when basically those complaining might not have been thought of watching the show in the first place, and those saying "think of the children" probably don't even bother setting up child-safety stuff on their TVs.

But fuck worms though, I fucking hate worms.

 

[DoctorM]

I know I saw the trailer but honestly all I remember is orange and teal. Lots of it. I can still see it when I close my eyes. It burns....

 

[the doom cannon]

Am I the only one who thinks this billboard really isn't all that bad? Seriously it's just an eye with a worm in it. It's not like a dude's guts spilling out ala Saving Private Ryan. It's not even bloody either. If this is turning them off of the show then they probably wouldn't have liked it anyway.

 

[Callate]

For once, I can actually sympathize with a "think of the children" argument, actually.

It comes down to choice. No matter what some of the more irredeemable parents seem to think, no one has to let their child play the latest FPS game, or have unrestricted access to the Internet. If something scary or disturbing comes on the television you don't think your child should see, you turn it off or you get them out of the room and occupy them so they don't come back in while someone is getting their pancreas pulled out through their nose. (And in this day and age, nearly everything on television comes with ample warning.) Even on a playground, you have the option of saying, "Hey, that looks like it might be a bit much for you, especially if you're playing on it like some of the big kids; why don't you come over here and play on this, instead."

It's called being a parent.

You don't really have that option with a billboard. I suppose you might go around it assuming you know it's there- but should you have to? Should you really have to choose between going a mile or more out of your way and giving your four-year-old nightmares? No, I don't think that's a reasonable standard.

It's not taking anything significant away from anyone to say that such a billboard shouldn't be on display; the show will still exist, and adults are welcome to watch it, and parents can decide for themselves about their children. In this particular case, insisting on keeping something in spite of others' discomfort isn't about maturity or artistic freedom, but selfishness.

 

[heroicbob]

I find it kinda funny how some people said "we're not going to watch it in protest" when basically those complaining might not have been thought of watching the show in the first place, and those saying "think of the children" probably don't even bother setting up child-safety stuff on their TVs.

But fuck worms though, I fucking hate worms.

I assumed when they said children seeing the imagery they meant the billboard

 

[mistwolf]

I think it is too much, and my daughter would definately be disturbed by that.

Speaking about the 'boycott' claims, though, I suspect there's a lot of over-hype on the OTHER side of that. A bunch of people saying 'this is too much, and not a show I would watch' aren't saying they are boycotting it because of the billboard, just that this is not (as some have already said here) a show they would watch anyway. Hyperbole and misquoting runs both ways, and a site like the Escapist sees a bunch of people saying 'That's horrid and I won't watch it' amounts to 'People are boycotting because of the show!'.

I won't even go into 'censorship' claims. Just because you legally CAN say or show something, doesn't mean you SHOULD, or that you are immune from people calling you an asshole for giving their kids nightmares.