TV channel Comedy Central has been rapped on the knuckles for running crude trailers – including comedian Russell Howard saying “you filthy bitch” and Rob Delaney talking about “fingering” – when children were likely to be watching.
Ofcom received more than 200 complaints about the tone, humour and language used in more than a dozen trailers that aired repeatedly on Comedy Central and Comedy Central Extra before the 9pm watershed.
The trailers included comedian Howard performing a standup routine which included the line “you filthy bitch” which aired at 9.30am on Christmas Eve during cartoon series Penguins of Madagascar.
Delaney’s pre-watershed trailer included the comedian talking about “fingering because I’ve just learned how to do it”.
Other clips included a trailer promoting a “South Park Erection Night Special” and trailers for a post-watershed scheduled animation series Brickleberry, which featured cartoon characters being graphically killed, which aired before 9pm.
A number of the 206 viewers who complained were particularly concerned because the trailers were broadcast around, or during, back-to-back episodes of Friends which they believed was a series likely to attract young viewers.
Paramount UK-owned Comedy Central’s initial response to Ofcom was that none of the trailers was in breach of the broadcasting code because the channel was not “intended to appeal to, nor aimed, at children”.
The broadcaster, which is ultimately owned by US giant Viacom, said that it had worked hard to make sure that the references and comments in its trailers would “go over the heads of younger viewers watching”.
Ofcom ruled that all of the trailers broke broadcasting rules including that children must be protected from unsuitable material by appropriate scheduling of content.
The media regulator said that the trailers were “clearly unsuitable” to be broadcast before the 9pm watershed.
“In addition, we noted that in many instances these trailers were broadcast when children were returning from school, and during the weekend, bank holidays and school holidays,” said Ofcom. “Further, the trailers were scheduled around and during programmes which with appeal to a child audience, such as Friends, and in one case Penguins of Madagascar.”
Ofcom said that it is investigating a number of other cases involving pre-watershed trailers broadcast on Comedy Central and Comedy Central Extra.
“Ofcom will therefore wait until it concludes these other cases, and has met with the licensee, before deciding on any further appropriate regulatory action,” the regulator warned.
When Paramount UK was made aware of Ofcom’s decision ahead of publication the broadcaster made a U-turn dropping its defence of the trailers saying it “fully” accepted the findings.
In addition Paramount UK said it had launched a full investigation acknowledging that it had “pushed the boundaries of our compliance practices for promos too far in recent months”.
“Comedy Central accepts Ofcom’s findings and would like to apologise for any offence caused,” said a spokeswoman. “We always consider carefully what content we show but appreciate in these instances our judgement was wrong. We’ve reviewed our compliance procedures and the creative guidelines governing our on-air promos and have made changes to strengthen and simplify both.”
In 2013, Comedy Central fell foul of the Advertising Standards Authority for running alcohol ads in almost 80 episodes of Friends when a significant proportion of the audience was under 18.
