A0B6: Rihanna S&M Case Review

At 11:25 on March 10th the music channel WTF TV screened the music video for Rihanna’s song ‘S & M’. They received a complaint stating that the music video was “completely unsuitable for daytime”. OfCom had to consider whether the material raised issues under Rule 1.3 of The Code. Rule 1.3 states that children must be protected by appropriate scheduling from material that is unsuitable for them. Ofcom acknowledges that freedom of expression in the broadcasting environment is extremely important. They also understand that music videos are an artistic and creative medium, which can and do sometimes contain challenging content which some may find offensive. OfCom is of the opinion that broadcasters of music channels carry a responsibility towards a potential child audience, however viewers should expect there to be a wide range of services available. Some of the concerns about music videos, most of which came from parents, include sexually explicit content such as overtly sexual performances from artists or actors. Another concern is nakedness and naked body parts. Rihanna herself raised an argument against this concern stating that music channels were happy to show the music video for Umbrella in which she was ‘full nude’.   

After looking at the case, I have come to the conclusion that OfCom’s decision was incorrect. One of the main reasons I think this is the fact that parents are the main group of people who are criticising the television channel. I believe that they hold the responsibility to make sure their children do not view material which they deem to be unsuitable. They should realise that music channels are not explicitly aimed at children and therefore will not take as much precaution to control what is shown and when. They could phone up their tv provider and have the music channels blocked. Also they can have restrictions placed on what content is available on the internet, for example YouTube videos. Furthermore this video only contains a softcore representation of sadomasochism and sexual activity. Themes of bondage and sexual domination and corresponding images were presented in a surreal, colourful and somewhat humorous manner and the video does not depict real or even realistic sadomasochistic practices. The broadcaster considered the images to be ‘cartoon-like over-the-top sequences which were artistic and not dark or seedy. In addition, WTF TV did not attract a child audience. Audience figures collected by OfCom showed that for the month of March 2011, the audience share for WTF TV was 0. In my opinion, if a child did see the video they would not understand the sexual connotations of the song and video.