BOYCOTTING A CHILDREN’S FILM OVER ALLERGIES... IS THIS JUST P.C. GONE MAD?
Parents launch campaign to BOYCOTT Peter Rabbit!
MAKERS of the new Peter Rabbit film were caught on the hop after parents launched a campaign to boycott it over a scene in which bunnies attack a man with blackberries knowing he is allergic to them.
Allergy sufferers said the incident, in which the man quickly becomes seriously ill, amounts to ‘food bullying’.
Several groups representing allergy sufferers have condemned the scene, prompting the hashtag #boycottpeterrabbit on social media.
The film, a mix of animation and live action based on the Beatrix Potter tales, has just been released in the US and will be seen here next month.
It features the voice of James Corden as Peter Rabbit and there are also voice roles for Daisy Ridley and Margot Robbie, and live action roles played by Domhnall Gleeson, Rose Byrne and Sam Neill. But a petition by Australian group Global Anaphylaxis Awareness and Inclusivity (Globalaai), which has already attracted more than 4,000 names, is calling for Sony Pictures to apologise.
The group claims the film ‘mocks the seriousness of allergic disease and is heartbreakingly disrespectful to the families of those that have lost loved ones to anaphylaxis’ – a life-threatening allergic reaction.
A US group called Kids with Food Allergies Foundation has also posted a Facebook warning to parents about the film.
It said: ‘Making light of this condition hurts our members because it encourages the public not to take the risk of allergic reactions seriously, and this cavalier attitude may make them act in ways that could put an allergic person in danger.’ Globalaai says it is appalled that Sony Pictures ‘depicts blatant food allergy bullying putting an innocent allergic individual at risk’.
They added: ‘This is a socially irresponsible depiction in a movie aimed at children. ‘To spread a message that condones such victimising and dangerous behaviour among children is grossly offensive.’ In the scene, Peter and his friends attack the nephew of Peter’s arch-enemy Mr McGregor with blackberries. They know Tom McGregor is allergic to the berries, and at one point even shoot one into his mouth.
After becoming ill he has to inject himself in the leg with adrenaline to combat the allergic reaction.
Parents of children with allergies expressed their dismay over the scene on social media. One mother said: ‘I have watched my son go into anaphylactic shock. That was NOT funny.’