I planned this title on the way home. Should it be horrors of…? when in fact I am a card-carrying (well, bus pass carrying) bus user, or horrors on…? There are many of these, particularly the ones who listen to music tracks at double speed on their mobiles, at full volume.
The thing is, neither. The real bugbear at the moment is the number of horror films that are being advertised on the side of Edinburgh buses, in full view of children, and equally people like me who prefer to avoid horror films, particularly first thing in the morning and at the end of a working day, which is of course when I wait for buses, ride on buses, see the sides of other buses etc.
Saw IV has been particularly nasty, and on seemingly 1 in 3 buses before we went on holiday. Coming back, the number is fewer, but some have now been replaced by Shrooms, next in line. Yes, a picture of a skull is a bit easier to take than a picture of a head with a mantrap around it, but really, it’s not about the choice, is it? The whole issue is the lack of choice, as a pedestrian, as a commuter.
I don’t have a problem with film adverts on buses – it helps me have a vague idea of what’s going on at the cinema, and then I can find out more on T’s film blog in due course. I do have a problem with the nature of the pictures, the excessive number of them.
There was an article in the paper – I braved a broadsheet, and actually read bits of the Herald main section today – about trying to have a ban on advertising products that are overly fatty or sugary, until after 9pm.
Nothing new there, except they are trying to widen it to include programmes on after 9 that are particular popular with younger audiences. There seems to be some sense that things which could be considered harmful are on after the watershed.
Difficulty with the buses is there is no watershed. There is no choice. Except turning your head away, time and time again.