‘Carbon Skid Mark’: Climate Change Campaign Featuring Politicians & Business Leaders Soiling Themselves Was Channel 4’s Most-Complained-About Content Of 2023
05.01.2024 - 09:19
/ deadline.com
An ad for climate change programing in which politicians and business leaders were shown with a ‘carbon skid mark,’ which attracted the ire of Conservative lawmakers, was Channel 4‘s most-complained-about content of 2023.
Releasing its complaints list for the first time, which is separate from regulator Ofcom‘s annual breakdown, the Channel 4 Change Climate Season promotional vid was shown to have comfortably topped with 1,100 complaints, more than double the next in line. Watch the vid below.
Titled What Are Those In Power Doing About It?, the one-minute promotion preceded a wealth of Channel 4 climate change shows. It was slammed by an MP, Simon Jupp, when Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon faced the Culture, Media & Sport Committee in November, with Jupp saying it “cheapened debate” as he labeled the concept of a ‘carbon skid mark’ “embarrassing.” Mahon responded by stressing Channel 4’s desire to be “provocative.”
Next on the Channel 4 complaints list with around 500 was hoax doc Gregg Wallace: The British Miracle Meat, which pretended to reveal a new development in food technology that could engineer protein from donated human cells. Wallace presents the BBC’s Inside the Factory and the Channel 4 hoax version was intended to provoke thought on the measures people were being forced to take during the cost-of-living crisis.
Miracle Meat was followed on the list by reality series Scared of the Dark, and one episode in particular in which a live rabbit was used during a task. Next was Naked Education, the body positivity series that aimed to challenge stereotypes and correct misconceptions about the human body including in areas such as penis size.
Channel 4’s landmark Russell Brand doc, In Plain Sight, attracted just less