The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children created a moving and brutal advertisement intended for television as its summer campaign, which features a small boy proclaiming his hopes for a future free from violence while being beaten by a man who is presumably his father.
After drawing some early criticism for being too traumatic for television, the video was ultimately banned in Ireland for an unrelated reason. Namely, the Irish advertising Standards Authority ("IASA") received 13 complaints that the advertisement is sexist because a man is doing the beating rather than a woman. The IASA agreed, deciding that "in the absence of reliable statistics” on whether men or women are mostly at fault for violence against children, the ad is too sexist to stay on the air.
Some have speculated that the censorship has drawn more attention to the campaign with the You Tube video at 601,238 views as of this writing.
Please take a look at this moving and important video.
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