Bus stops are the traditional home of violence. From drunk 14 year-olds having bottlefights, to old ladies ramming each other out of the queues so they can get the best seat, to bus drivers punching people in the face for not having the correct change, bus stops are where it’s at.

But while real violence is OK, pretend violence can get out of town. The Advertising Standards Authority has banned an interactive bus stop poster campaign for Sin City as it displayed unsuitable and offensive images.

In the interactive poster, people waiting for buses could press a button and watch 13 moving and still images from Sin City (DVDs). Those images included gunplay, a man being punched and a car crashing into water.

Buena Vista International, in charge of the Sin City campaign, said that it had carefully selected the images for the poster, avoided placing it near schools, and put the viewing buttons high up so that children couldn’t reach them. During the campaign, the images were viewed 486,570 times, with only one complaint.

However, the ASA ruled that the posters breached advertising codes for fear, decency, violent behaviour and advertising, saying:

"We considered that it was still possible for children to view the
buttons that had been pressed and the images could be seen as condoning
violence or likely to cause distress and serious or widespread offence."

A world where you can’t look at a car crash at a bus stop, but telephone boxes are still covered with rubbish cartoons of Kate Lawler in Celebrity Wrestling? What’s the world coming to?

Read more:

Violent Sin City posters under fire from watchdog – Brand Republic

[story by Stuart Heritage]