The Vancouver Science World ad that was too violent for TV

The Vancouver Science World commercial about the pain-relieving powers of optimism was deemed too violent for TV. Photo: screenshot

Regulators have ruled a commercial for Vancouver’s Science World too violent for TV, forcing the organization to release it online instead.

The 30-second ad, titled “Positively Painful,” shows a man suffering a series of injuries and indignities, such as stepping on a nail and getting kicked in the groin. The spot finishes with an off-camera collision with a school bus.

The violence ends with a note that “optimists feel less pain.”

“Every year we try to find the most interesting science facts we can come up with,” Morgan Tierney, a copywriter at Rethink, the agency behind the ad, told CTV News. “It turns out that people who have a positive outlook on life in general or identify themselves as positive people, actually perceive less pain.”

But Science World’s attempt to package research into an entertaining TV spot backfired when the Television Bureau of Canada, which regulates TV advertising, demanded a series of changes. The organization wanted less violence, but rather than water down the impact of the ad, Rethink and Science World opted instead to release it unedited on YouTube, where it has already garnered 16,000 views.

Two 2013 posters promoting a sexuality exhibit at Vancouver’s Science World, which were subsequently banned from local bus stops.

Science World has a history of using provocative ads to drum up attention for its events. The centre’s 2013 exhibition about sexuality featured some provocative posters that were subsequently banned at Vancouver bus stops for being too suggestive.