A spokesperson for Turner Europe has stated that the company will be reviewing the entire catalog of 1,500 Hanna-Barbera cartoons with the possible result of removing scenes that glamorize smoking. The effort was launched in response to a complaint to British media regulator Ofcom from a viewer who stated that smoking scenes in the Tom and Jerry cartoons “Texas Tom” and “Tennis Chumps” “were not appropriate in a cartoon aimed at children.” A statement from Ofcom stated, “The licensee has…proposed editing any scenes or references in the series where smoking appeared to be condoned, acceptable, glamorized or where it might encourage imitation.”
Turner Broadcasting in the United States has not commented publicly on the issue as of press time.
(via Mark Evanier’s weblog)
