BSA Decisions Ngā Whakatau a te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho

Summary

[This summary does not form part of the decision.]

The Authority has not upheld a complaint that an episode of Yo-Kai Watch was in breach of the good taste and decency and children’s interests standards. It found that, while the episode contained negative stereotypes that may not be appropriate for children, and which some parents or caregivers may not approve of, the adult themes and sexual innuendos within the episode were not likely to be understood by child viewers, and the potential harm did not reach the level justifying regulatory intervention.

Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Children’s Interests

The broadcast

[1]  An episode of Yo-Kai Watch, an anime children’s programme, included a story titled ‘The Sleepover’ in which the main character Nate and two of his friends stay up late to watch a ‘forbidden late night programme for adults only’. A Yo-Kai (a kind of mischievous spirit) with the ability to manipulate electricity keeps changing the channel to a cooking show. Nate’s parents wake up and catch the boys watching the ‘adult’ programme and scold them.

[2]  The adult programme that the boys were watching was described by a character in the show as ‘highly suggestive’. Brief images were shown of girls in swimwear, bunny ears and revealing clothing. The boys were shown blushing and glued to the television. The girls on the television could be heard saying things like ‘all-night party on the after-hours channel’; ‘let’s get this party started in the bubble bath’; ‘good clean fun’ and ‘next up on all night party, we’re gonna have some real fun’.

[3]  The boys commented ‘doing stuff we’re not supposed to do is scary and exciting at the same time’ and ‘I wish I were a bubble right now.’

[4]  The episode was broadcast on 8 November 2019 on TVNZ 2. As part of our consideration of this complaint, we have watched a recording of the broadcast and read the correspondence listed in the Appendix.

The complaint

[5]  Ms Eastman complained that the programme breached the good taste and decency and children’s interests standards of the Free-to-Air Television Code of Broadcasting Practice¹ for the following reasons:

Good Taste and Decency

• ‘This is totally inappropriate material for a children’s cartoon [being] screened in the morning before school when young kids may have access to watch this.’
• She found it ‘disturbing viewing for children’ and ‘of a sexual suggestive manner’.
• The programme included ‘Playboy’ style ‘bunnies’ discussing getting into a tub and ‘making cooing and moaning noises’.
• The programme the boys watch is referred to as ‘suggestive’ and the Yo-Kai says ‘how boys like this sort of thing’.
• ‘The boys blush and ogle the screen in a voyeuristic manner.’ This ‘reinforce[s] misogynistic views of females’. She also emphasised in her further submissions that TVNZ did not respond to this point, and that the programme ‘feeds into the notion that women in bikinis are there to excite the male gaze.’
• ‘At the end the TV cuts to show a group of young girls in bikinis.’
• ‘It encourages children to do things they are not supposed to and even to seek out pornography and condones female objectification.’

Children’s Interests

• The programme is rated R13 in other countries and ‘considered an adult style manga cartoon made to look like a children’s programme.’
• The programme contains inappropriate/adult themes ‘such as pornography, misogyny, [Playboy] style programme young boys are watching when parents told them not to.’
• It aired before school when young children may be watching.
• While younger children may not understand the innuendos, older children around the ages 10-12 probably would.

The broadcaster’s response

[6]  TVNZ responded to the referral, submitting that the standards were not breached and that it considered that:

‘The episode would not have offended a significant number of viewers in the context of screening. We also consider that the material shown is acceptable in a G certificate programme aimed at children and so that child viewers could be protected from adverse material as expected under standard 3’.

[7]  TVNZ provided the following factors in support of its submission:

• ‘Yo-Kai Watch was certified G, General and aimed at child viewers.’
• ‘The Yo-Kai Watch programmes are made for children and are appropriate for this audience. The storylines and content shown in the episode are appropriate for child viewers.’
• This episode is rated TVY7 overseas – appropriate for 7 years plus.’
• 'Yo Kai Watch is on Disney XD in the US and Teletoon in Canada.’
• The show refers to a programme for ‘mature audiences’ which shows ‘fully clothed women talking about having a party and going into a bubble bath.’
• ‘The women on the TV are fully clothed and are not depicted behaving sexually. While some of the dialogue may be slightly suggestive to an adult, nothing overtly sexual is said or depicted in the ‘television programme’ and so child viewers would not understand this adult inference. Nate’s parents catch the boys and Nate’s mother is cross – unplugging the TV and telling them to go to bed.’
• ‘There is a strong theme in the segment that what the boys are considering watching is not appropriate and that this is something that they should not be doing, even before the parents intervene. Child viewers are invited through this storytelling to view the boys’ actions as being naughty and wrong.’
• ‘None of the material is particularly sexualised and, in fact nothing sexual is depicted in this story.’
• ‘This is a small part of the programme, and this storyline did not dominate the episode.’

The relevant standards

[8]  The purpose of the good taste and decency standard (Standard 1) is to protect audience members from viewing broadcasts that are likely to cause widespread undue offence or distress, or undermine widely shared community standards. The context in which the content occurs and the wider context of the broadcast are relevant to assessing whether the broadcast has breached the standard. 

[9]  The children’s interests standard (Standard 3) states that broadcasters should ensure children can be protected from broadcasts which might adversely affect them. This may include material that unduly disturbs them, is harmful or is likely to impair their development. The focus of the standard is on harm that may be unique to children (and which may not be harmful or unexpected when considering the audience in general). Context is an important consideration.

[10]  For the purposes of this complaint, material that may be considered under this standard includes sexual material or themes outside the expectations of the programme’s classification.

Our findings

[11]  When we make a decision on a complaint that broadcasting standards have been breached, our starting point is the right to freedom of expression, including the broadcaster’s right to broadcast content and the audience’s right to receive that content. We must consider whether the exercise of the rights exceeds the limits that may be placed on the exercise of that right.  Our task is to balance the broadcaster’s right to freedom of expression including the value of the content and public interest in it, against the level of actual or potential harm that might be caused. 

[12]  Given the importance placed on the right to freedom of expression in a liberal democratic society, the threshold for our intervention is generally high.  Having said this, the children’s interests standard recognises the special protections required for children. In this case, we have concluded that the threshold requiring our intervention was not reached.  We consider the mature and adult themes raised in the item would likely have gone over the heads of the children who may have watched it.  However, we did have some discomfort with the negative gender stereotypes apparent in the cartoon which may have an impact on the attitudes and expectations of young viewers. The programme had the potential to influence boys to behave in a certain way when presented with sexualised images of women or negative stereotypes. In this context, parents and caregivers have an important role to play in guiding children not to mimic content which does not reflect evolving attitudes to equality and gender. We discuss these points further below.

[13]  Children’s stories often contain narratives that reinforce certain themes with regard to gender and relationships. Traditional children’s stories often depicted a ‘happily ever after’ whereby a princess was saved by a prince (for example, Snow White, Cinderella) or placed emphasis on the female character’s appearance alongside or over other qualities (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin). While this trend is changing (see, for example, Frozen, Tangled, Moana, Brave), there is still ongoing debate about the problem of how girls and boys are represented in children’s fiction². In her complaint, Ms Eastman has raised one facet of this broader issue with her concern that the programme reinforces the objectification of women. Different parents will have different views about how to approach this subject matter.  

[14]  We have previously noted that:³

It is not our role to denounce broadcasts which some may consider to be in poor taste or indecent, provided such broadcasts do not cause harm at a level requiring our intervention.

[15]  With regard to this principle, we gave careful consideration to the possible harm from this broadcast, as distinct from making a value judgement on the premise or themes of the programme. Taking into account the contextual factors discussed below, we have concluded that it was unlikely to cause harm at a level justifying our intervention.

Good taste and decency

[16]  When we consider a complaint under this standard, the context of the broadcast is crucial in determining whether current norms of good taste and decency have been maintained.⁴ Contextual considerations in this instance include:

• The programme is a Japanese comedy-action-adventure animated series, dubbed in English and broadcast on TVNZ 2.
• The programme was played at 7.25am (during the the G timeband and children’s normally accepted viewing times⁵) and rated G – General.
• The programme’s G rating is noted in the TV Guide.
• The Electronic Programme Guide synopsis contained a summary of the series which read ‘A boy and his guide use a magic watch to find mischievous beings. But which ones to fight and which ones to befriend?’
• The programme did not carry an audience advisory. However, at the start of the programme, the Yo-Kai says ‘any attempt to replicate Yo-Kai behaviour would be ill-advised’.
• The target and likely audience was children.
• Audience expectations of TVNZ 2, especially during children’s normally accepted viewing times, is for programmes to be suitable for, and often targeted at, children of all ages.
• There is no public interest in the broadcast.
• The broadcast was humorous.
• It had a message that children should not watch certain programmes on television; though it arguably sensationalised, and may tempt children to want to watch, mature programmes.
• The segment complained about was a small part of the entire programme.
• The mature themes and sexual innuendos in the programme were non-explicit (see examples in paragraphs [2] and [3] above).

[17]  Both parties made submissions regarding the programme’s classification in other jurisdictions, with Ms Eastman submitting that it was classified ‘R13’ overseas and TVNZ submitting it was classified ‘TV-Y7’ overseas. However, the variations in classifications can be explained by differently edited versions of the episode being shown in different countries, including with meanings removed in translation.⁶ Accordingly, we cannot rely on the overseas ratings for guidance in making our decision. We consider that the programme that was broadcast was appropriately classified G.

[18]  Taking into account the above factors, in particular the non-explicit nature of the programme’s mature themes and innuendo and the general humour and light-hearted nature of the programme, we found that the programme was unlikely to undermine current norms of good taste and decency.

[19]  Therefore, we do not uphold the complaint under the good taste and decency standard.

Children’s interests

[20]  The purpose of the children’s interests standard is to enable audiences to protect children from material that unduly disturbs them, is harmful or is likely to impair their physical, mental or social development.⁷ The focus of the standard is on harm that may be unique to children (and which may not be harmful to the audience in general).⁸

[21]  Context is an important consideration when assessing complaints under this standard. Contextual factors include the time of broadcast, the programme’s classification, the target and likely audience, and audience expectations.⁹ In this instance we considered the same contextual factors listed above in paragraph [16].

[22]  The children’s interests standard is specifically concerned with harm to children, and may be more rigorous than the general good taste and decency standard.¹⁰ In our consideration of this complaint we discussed the extent to which children would understand the references in the programme as well as Ms Eastman’s concerns about the messages that the programme could send. We found the following to be relevant:

• Children would not generally understand that bunny ears could be a reference to Playboy bunnies.
• The giggling and cooing would have different connotations for children.
• The girls were not shown explicitly depicting any sexual activity – only standing around in swimwear or somewhat revealing clothing.
• The dramatic tension of the episode was regarding the Yo-Kai interfering with the television and electricity.
• The implication that the children were naughty for watching this might prompt curiosity and encourage other children to seek out similar programmes (even though the show was sending the message that it was not suitable for children).
• Some older children might understand from the boys blushing that there were sexual connotations in the programme.
• Children might be curious and seek further understanding of why this programme was inappropriate. However, creating curiosity in itself is not a reason to find a breach of the standard.

[23]  In light of this, while we had some disquiet about the negative stereotyping in the cartoon, we did not consider that, on balance, any harm that may be caused by the programme reached a level that would justify regulatory intervention. The standards system recognises that broadcasters must provide some protections, but parents and caregivers also play an important role in choosing content that is suitable for their children. In this case, caregivers will have a role to play in discussing and educating their children about some of the themes reflected.

[24]  Therefore, we do not uphold the complaint under the children’s interests standard.

For the above reasons the Authority does not uphold the complaint.
Signed for and on behalf of the Authority

Judge Bill Hastings

Chair

26 May 2020

Appendix

The correspondence listed below was received and considered by the Authority when it determined this complaint:

1  Paula Eastman’s complaint to TVNZ – 9 November 2019

2  TVNZ confirming Eastman complaint lodged – 17 December 2019

3  BSA confirming it will accept referral – 17 December 2019

4  TVNZ response to referral – 31 March 2020

5  Ms Eastman’s final comments – 21 April 2020

¹ The Free-to-Air Television Code of Broadcasting Practice was refreshed with effect from 1 May 2020. This complaint has been determined under the April 2016 version of the Free-to-Air Television Code of Broadcasting Practice as the relevant broadcast pre-dated the 1 May 2020 version.
² ‘Must monsters always be male? Huge gender bias revealed in children’s books’ (The Guardian, 21 January 2018); ‘Highly concerning: picture books bias worsens as female characters stay silent’ (The Guardian, 13 June 2019)
³ Sta Lucia and MediaWorks TV Ltd, Decision No. 2019-048 at [19]
⁴ Guideline 1a
⁵ Definitions: Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook, page 9
⁶ See, for example, <https://yokaiwatch.fandom.com/wiki/EP006>,<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4523640/parentalguide>, <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5389826/?ref_=ttep_ep6>, and <https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/yo-kai-watch>
⁷ Commentary: Children’s Interests, Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook, page 13
⁸ As above, page 14
⁹ Guideline 3b
¹⁰ Commentary: Children’s Interests, Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook, page 14