U.K. AD AUTHORITY BANS COMMERCIALS FOR THE MECHANIC

Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority has ordered that ads for the R-rated (in the U.S.) movie The Mechanic, starring Jason Statham and Ben Foster, be pulled from all channels because of a “stream of violent imagery” that they display. Britain’s Press Association described the objectionable scenes this way: “A man being speared through the calf, a man being shot in the face through a window, a man being run over, a man’s hand being broken, a metal bar being driven through a car window into a man’s head and a man’s head exploding when he was shot at close range.” Although the commercial did not air before the 9:00 p.m. “watershed” hour when children are likely to be watching, it did air during an episode of Glee, which the ASA noted, attracts “a significant proportion of children” under the age of 16 even though it airs at 9:00 p.m.