Is the BBC out of control? 

Anthony

"Is the BBC out of control?"

Yes, but it's pretty much a sign of the times. I know a Swiss chap who is going back to Switzerland in no small part due to the fact that he finds the constant barrage of "We know what you're doing and if you're naughty we're coming to get you" adverts and posters oppressive.* When the Swiss think you're going over the top, you know something's wrong. Several of my American friends have also commented on the emergence of this sort of thing following recent trips to the UK.

It's a worrying trend, made worse by the fact that it doesn't seem to be making much positive impact in the first place.

*Winning entry: A CCTV poster on the back of a bus: Enormous pair of eyes with the caption "Watching Eyes - For Your Protection".

Herbert Thornton

BBC - Big Brother Corporation.

Norty

They have been running this ad(threat?) for sometime now. I'm a little surprised it took so long for anyone to react. My wife says I'm paranoid and I was beginning to believe her, so you have helped me feel a little less isolated in the belief that they are out to get me/us after all .
Then again perhaps it's a trailer for a forthcoming Philip K. Dick sci-fi drama in which we all have parts.

Tiberius

Fear not - Charles Moore is a whisker away from inserting a well-placed spanner in their bloody database.

THX1138

Stephen-You don't seem to mind huge state databases when you to go the USA as I remember so why do worry about the licence fee database? Remember if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear. How I hate that phrase Me I think we should resist all state & corporate databases whether it's the US PNR database or the BBC .

Anthony -Anyone who is going back to Switzerland to avoid the state is making a serious error of judgement nasty bigoted little country

Jennie

I didn't think it was all that sinister. The BBC have long shown ads for TV licences designed to strike fear into the hearts of viewers. So I've become immune to them (I do have a TV licence!).

If it's impossible for anyone to 'hide' their possession of a TV from the TV licensing authority - why the need to use daily scare tactics?

Nicholas

Yep, it's sinister and repulsive. The actress doing the voiceover should feel absolutely ashamed of herself for participating in this video nasty. The fact that there are people in positions of decision making authority who increasingly think that this kind of threat advertising is acceptable is even more sinister. They have flexed their authoritarian muscles and feeling no resistance will flex them more.

At least at the end there is just a knock on the door and not the full-on smash-the-door-down SWAT team assault which seems to be the norm these days.

Verity

Nicholas says: "At least at the end there is just a knock on the door and not the full-on smash-the-door-down SWAT team assault which seems to be the norm these days." They erred. They should have shown a SWAT team with assault weapons breaking down the door and CF-gassing a nightie-wearing child on the stairs. Why go for half measures when you're in control?

I used to believe the BBC, whose continued existence is absolutely without purpose except control, should be split up and sold off.

But on consideration, I think the whole organisation is too toxic and should be destroyed instead. A dynamited implosion would be good, and then five years as a brownfield site while it slowly decontaminates. (I have also suggested, before, that the following day, there should be a tribute dynamiting of the UN.)

Catherine

These adverts - along with the ever sinister DVLA version - are a sad reflection of just how 'acceptable' the erosion of personal freedoms has become. Of course, I am not advocating anyone to avoid paying their licenses.

My own experience has taught me that the reason they use these extreme messages is for money: it is cheaper to send out advertising campaigns and threatening letters than actually employ people to knock on doors. The truth they don't want us to know is that no-one will come knocking. When the previous tenants moved out of our last flat, their license expired. We had no television at all, and received regular threatening letters promising we would shortly expect an enforcement officer. This continued for more than a year - and no-one ever came.