LONDON (Reuters) - Turner Broadcasting is scouring more than 1,500 classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including old favorites "Tom and Jerry," "The Flinstones" and "Scooby-Doo," to edit out scenes that glamorize smoking.
The review was triggered by a complaint to British media regulator Ofcom by one viewer who took offence to two episodes of "Tom and Jerry" shown on the Boomerang channel, part of Turner Broadcasting which itself belongs to Time Warner Inc.
"We are going through the entire catalog," Yinka Akindele, spokeswoman for Turner in Europe said on Monday.
"This is a voluntary step we've taken in light of the changing times," she said, adding that the painstaking review had been prompted by the Ofcom complaint.
The regulator's latest news bulletin stated that a viewer, who was not identified, had complained about two smoking scenes on "Tom and Jerry," saying they "were not appropriate in a cartoon aimed at children."
In the first, "Texas Tom," the hapless cat Tom tries to impress a feline female by rolling a cigarette, lighting it and smoking it with one hand. In the second, "Tennis Chumps," Tom's opponent in a match smokes a large cigar.
Just for the record, the parts of the cartoons where Tom and Jerry chase one another with axes and sticks of dynamite are just fine. It's the occasional tobacco product that has these people in an uproar.
Because we all know that any kid who sees Tom roll a cigarette is going to go right down to the corner store and by himself a pack of Camels.