§ Spine-chiller from the theatre led to formation of censorship committee
§ During the 1880's there was a considerable public outcry against certain theatrical posters which were being displayed on hoardings in Britain, and particularly in London. About the middle of 1890 a very lurid melodrama was advertised on the hoardings showing scenes of blood and slaughter which shocked the susceptibilities of many sensitive observers.
§ Series of resolutions
§ This outcry caused the London Billposters Protection Association to pass a series of resolutions which brought into being a committee of billposters to pass judgment upon posters before they were exhibited to the public, and to prevent the display of any that were for any reason undersirable or calculated to give public offence.
§ The United Billposters Association which operated in the provinces joined forces with the London Association to form a committee of censors.
§ Binding upon all
§ The original committee consisted of six members, all billposters, and their decision upon any poster submitted to them was binding upon all their members.
§ Any member of the associations had the right to demand a decision on any poster, and pending a decision it was laid down that contracts for the exhibition of the poster should not be entered into. If they were already entered into, the associations undertook to hold the member concerned harmless against any action for a breach of contract.
§ The industry as a whole respected and abided by the decisions of the censorship committee and the arrangement worked exceedingly well. About 1,900 poster printers and theatrical managers became somewhat uneasy over the large number of posters which was being condemned, and they asked that they should have a say in the decisions of the committee.
§ They had no idea
§ They had interests at stake and had no idea of what to avoid or, in the case of a considerable number of "stock" theatrical posters which had been condemned, how to amend them so that they could be displayed.
§ The representations of the printers and theatrical managers resulted, in 1901, in a joint committee being formed which was quite independent of the billposters' own committee, and merely dealt with the stock posters which had been subject to censorship. In all something like 200 posters were dealt with and the committee functioned until 1903 when, after its final meeting, it issued a report to everyone concerned containing a catalogue of all the stock posters which had been banned.
§ Most of these posters featured crude sensationalism and in a number of cases the acts of violence shown sought to convey an indirectly sexual thrill.
656§ The censorship committee of the billposters has continued to function steadily and thanks to its voluntary efforts the public has been spared unnecessary shocks.
§ Consultation sought
§ The present representation upon the joint committee of censors consists of the three poster advertising associations, namely the British Poster Advertising Association, the London Poster Advertising Association and the Solus Outdoor Advertising Association, and the other members on it represent the British Transport Commission and the Theatrical Managers Association, while consultation is always sought with the cinematograph industry when posters belonging to that industry are brought before it.
§ During the past few months a still closer association has been fostered with the cinematograph industry by an invitation to the censorship committee to appoint a representative upon the newly-formed censorship committee of the Kinematograph Renters Association.
§ An enormous. Saving
§ This ensures that advice can be given and action taken on sketches and designs before cinema posters are actually printed—an enormous saving in expense. The system operated by the joint censorship committee of the poster advertising industry is fairly simple, if any member of any of the associations connected with the industry has the slightest doubt concerning a poster received by him for display he automatically sent it to the committee who invariably meet at the shortest possible notice—in some cases a matter of an hour or two—to consider it.
§ If the committee are of the opinion it should not be displayed by the trade, the member sending in the bill is informed immediately and all members of all associations are told.
§ The ideal would be …
§ Naturally the ideal would be for agents and advertisers to submit sketches of proposed posters which might be in doubt to the committee before going into print as this would save the enormous amount of expense and trouble involved in printing. The committee is loath to incur the expense for advertisers in the banning of any poster that has already been printed, but it does not allow this particular factor to come into its decisions at all.
§ Terms of reference
§ The committee has terms of reference which act as a guide to its deliberations. These are as follows:—
§ "The Joint Committee of Censors shall have power to prohibit the exhibition of posters if such posters:—
- (1) Depict murder, scenes of terror, horror or acts of violence.
- (2) Are calculated to demoralise, or which could be held to extenuate crime or incite its commission.
- (3) Depict obscenity or nudity.
- (4) Refer to religious or sacred subjects in a manner which might give offence.
- (5) Might be calculated to wound the susceptibilities of foreign peoples.
- (6) Foment social unrest.
- (7) Constitute a person attack on a member of any Government.
- (8) Contain any matter which can be regarded as a holding out for the prevention, cure or relief of serious diseases which should be rightly under the care of a registered medical practitioner, or offers for sale to the public any medicine or treatment which is directly or by implication held out in terms calculated to lead to the belief that the product or subject advertised is effective in:—
- (a) The treatment of Bright's disease, cancer, tuberculosis or consumption, diabetes, epilepsy, eye-strain and overstrain, fits, locornotorataxy or any ataxia, cataract., glaucoma, disseminated sclerosis, osteoarthritis, spinal, cerebral and venereal diseases, lupus or paralysis, or for preventing any of those ailments or for producing any beneficial effect with respect to the course of any of those ailments.
- (b) The cure of amenorrhaea, hernia, blindness, arthritis, or any structural or organic ailment of the auditory system.
- (c) Procuring the miscarriage of women.
- (d) The treatment of habits associated with sexual indulgence or of any ailment associated with those habits.
- (9) Undertake to treat by correspondence any of the ailments specified in paragraph 8 above.
- (10) Contain illustrations which are distorted or exaggerated in such a manner as to convey false impressions and calculated to deceive the public, or containing statements of a "knocking" or extravagant nature".
§ H. H. MALLATRATT.
§ Office of the Minister for Science,
§ 2, Richmond Terrace, S.W.1.
§ 19th December, 1962.
§ Lord Ferrers handed me your letter to him, since, as matters turned out, it fell to me to answer Lord Francis-Williams' Question.
§ You write that you have knowingly prevented the Minister of Health from communicating the findings of scientific opinion to the public because "There is no positive proof that cigarettes do cause lung cancer."
§ Yet your terms of reference do not, I note, include the assessment of scientific evidence. Nor am I aware of any qualifications you possess which would enable you to do so.
§ On the other hand a number of scientifically qualified bodies support the Ministry of Health in their opinion that cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer. These include the Medical Research Council, the Royal College of Physicians, the National Cancer Research Institute of Canada. Netherlands Ministry of Social Affairs and Public Health, the United States Study Group on Smoking and Health, the United States Public Health Service and the World Health Organisation.
658§ I know of no scientifically qualified body which has come to a contrary conclusion.
§ What constitutes positive proof is a matter of opinion, but in my judgment, to deny a public health authority the right to inform the public of an overwhelming scientific opinion is to be guilty of a grave public disservice.
§ Your decision, and the responsibility it entails, must be judged against two facts: about £11 million a year is, I believe, spent on advertising cigarettes and other smoking and the expenditure is rising; some 25,000 people die every year from lung cancer and the deaths from this cause are rising.
§ Unless I hear from you to the contrary I propose to send copies of this exchange of letters to the press.
§ (Signed.) HAILSHAM.
§ H. H. Mallatratt, Esq.,
§ Joint Censorship Committee of the Poster Advertising Industry, 48, Russell Square, W.C.1.