Britain bans bare nipple from EU ad
A brief promotional film encouraging people to vote in the European elections has been censored in Britain – to eliminate a glimpse of bare nipple.
The advert begins screening on May 28, but the opening shot of a breast-feeding baby has been deemed too shocking for British eyes.
Careful editing of the European Parliament production has left the brief breast-feeding scene in, but with the offending nipple left out – on the orders of the Cinema Advertising Association.
The uncut version, which will be shown in many other EU countries in the run-up to the euro elections, shows a baby groping for the nipple as it chooses which side to drink from. Then the nipple is visible again in the next shot as the baby‘s mouth closes around it.
In the edited version, approved for British audiences, the baby‘s hand obscures the nipple, and the next shot shows the child already feeding.
The whole soft-focus episode lasts less than five seconds in a compilation of images intended to depict people making choices – from the breastfeeding baby to children in a classroom to a jury in a courtroom and voters at the ballot box.
Two versions of the promotional film have been made, lasting 45 seconds and 30 seconds. Both feature the breast-feeding scene, and only for British audiences has the nipple disappeared in both versions.
The advert was made by the European Parliament‘s own audio-visual department for television or cinema screening in all 25 EU countries.
The images were chosen with multinational viewing in mind. A music soundtrack fades at the end as a voice delivers the message: “You’ve been voting since you were born: don’t stop now – European Parliament elections.”
Apart from the language of the final message, the advert was supposed to be exactly the same for all audiences – until the cultural differences which reflect the EU‘s diverse nations began to surface.
Ireland is said to have decided not to screen the advert at all, while the French are uncomfortable about the brief shot of a stern-looking female judge receiving a jury‘s verdict.
One source close to the production said it was bizarre that Britain should censor the nipple when many other EU countries had raised no problems with the breastfeeding scene.
“It was someone at the Cinema Advertising Association who said the nipple had to go on the British version – a bit odd when you think that pressure to make breast-feeding normal and acceptable and not a matter for sniggering was a battle pretty much won in the 1970s and 80s.”
The nipple-less version of the advert will run from May 28 until euro-election polling day – being shown to audiences in cinemas, many of which will be screening the new blockbuster Troy and, from June 3, the latest Harry Potter movie.
