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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''For ''[[Usagi Yojimbo]]'', yeah, at the beginning, you know, I'd get "Oh, cute and cuddly rabbit", and then they open the book and "... He kills people!"''
|Stan Sakai|at the Anthrocon 2005 panel "Anthropomorphics in Mainstream Comics"}}
All [[High Fantasy|fantasy]], [[Sci Fi Ghetto|space operas]], [[Fairy Tale|fairy tales]], everything with [[Talking Animal|talking animals]], anything with [[Kid Hero|a child as the protagonist]], [[Superhero]] movies, [[Comic Books]], and [[Animation Age Ghetto]] is okay for kids, [[Tempting Fate|right?]]
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Anime in general once got this treatment. More recently, the trend became [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?]], in the case of work-safe series. (Let's just say any and all [[Hentai]], which the above pictured ''La Blue Girl Returns'' falls under, is not for kids and just leave it at that.)
* ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'' certainly qualifies for this trope. It's an animated movie featuring pigs and wolves and nice-looking forest spirits, with [[Everything's Better with Princesses|"Princess"]] in the title, but it's also a movie that shows people's heads and limbs being shot off, open wounds bleeding profusely, and [[Eldritch Abomination]]s covered in icky purplish wormlike things. Disney released their dub under their Miramax label, perhaps so people wouldn't confuse it with its own kid-friendly productions, but many parents made the mistake anyway, especially as ''[[Pokémon: The First Movie|Pokémon the First Movie]]'' arrived in theaters around the same time. (And [[Macekre|editing out the violence]] was not an option; "no cuts" was an ironclad condition of Disney's distribution deal with [[Studio Ghibli]], and all Disney was allowed to do with the movie was to tweak the animation to lip-sync the characters with the English-language voice-actors and put in English title cards, credits, etc.) Let's also not forget Princess Mononoke also aired ''on Cartoon Network''. But on Toonami.
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* The Canadian province of Quebec's movie and video ratings board had some problems with this in the early years of anime videos, with titles such as [[Genocyber]], [[Ninja Scroll]] and [[Akira]] getting the equivalent of G and PG ratings. Fortunately, actual [[Hentai]] never fell through the cracks, and the board wised up relatively fast.]]
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Dreamkeepers]]'', is this in every way.{{context}}<!-- Zero Context Example - please provide enough information for people who don't read comic books to know why this is on the list -->
* Stephen Desberg created a cutesy comic together with Stéphane Colman called ''[[Billy the Cat]]'', which is about a teenage kid that gets transformed in a cute little yellow kitty. It features cute covers and equally cute friendly characters, but some of the comics (particularly issues 3, 5, 6 and 12) feature cats bleeding to death into alleys, a man getting impaled on one of his own statues, and a giant gorilla with a hook for a hand that kidnaps and harasses a little girl. The fact that a kid-friendly animated show was created based off the comic certainly wouldn't help matters much.
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* Steve Purcell gleefully subverted this with his original ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' comic books. With the expectation that cheerily illustrated funny animals would be purchased by and sold to minors, he often addressed kids across the Fourth Wall with encouragements to engage in dangerous or vandalistic acts. Fizzball is one example, a sport where a full can of soda or beer is shaken up to extreme levels and beaten around with a big stick—try it indoors, kids! He was not content to simply ''give'' bad role models, but to get in on the fun.
* Barbara Slate's ''[[Angel Love]]'' comic book series of the 1980s, having rather cute cartoonish artwork, yet dealing with serious topics such as drug abuse, abortion, critical illnesses, and incest. The lead character's roommate also goes on a blind date with a child. The ''Angel Love Special'' which closes out the series was the only book to have a "For Mature Readers Only" warning on the cover.
* [[Franco Belgian Comics|French series]] ''[[Les Legendaires|Les Légendaires]]'' could almost be considered as a trap on this side: the story involves a fantasy world where everyone has been turned into a kid following a magical accident, and follows the heroes trying to get a cure. The first book actually has a very kid-friendly tone with a large amount of humor, and the second, while slightly more violent, is still arguably suitable for kids, as death scenes are not shown and are [[Death Is Cheap|proven to be temporary]]. As a result, you can believe so far that you're dealing with a kids series... [[Mood Whiplash|then come books 3 and 4]], which involve [[Heroic Sacrifice]], [[The Plague]], and even [[Squick|one of the protagonists mistakingly being infatuated with his teammate's mother due to him not seeing the age difference since they both look like kids anyway]]. Books 5 and 6 have [[
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* [[Rule 34]] when applied to show originally intended for children.
* Many fan works of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' cater to the older male demographic.
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* It works the other way, too. Some fan works of darker series can be much lighter than the source material, and in extreme cases, trick an unaware viewer into thinking it's family friendly.
==
* ''[[The Good Son]]'' starred adorable little Macaulay Culkin, known and loved by children at the time for his ''[[Home Alone]]'' series. In this new film he played a serial killer who {{spoiler|fell to his death, while screaming rather like he did in ''[[Home Alone]]''}}. Sweet dreams, kiddos!
* The [[Watchmen (film)|film adaptation]] of ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' did not take long at all to fall victim to this. Consider: Comic book fans all know this story is by ''no'' stretch of the imagination appropriate for children. Okay. Now think of all the people out there who are ''not'' comic book fans, have never heard of the novel, and only saw [http://notalwaysright.com/when-presumptions-meet-postmodernism/4312 an awesome trailer with superheroes doing cool stuff]. The film does have an "adults only" rating in American and British markets, but we all know how well some adults acknowledge those.
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** The fact that it looks at American history in a distinctly cynical and satirical, if ultimately optimistic, light - not that there's anything wrong with that, but ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' it ain't.
** All in all, even [[Bowdlerise|censored for TV]], not easily accessible or indeed appropriate for little kids.
* ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' is about Jesus and it's from [[The Bible]], so it must be okay, right? Leaving aside that anyone who has read the Bible should recognize a difference between the real thing and "Bible Stories for Children," some parents still ignored the R rating and [https://web.archive.org/web/20120203011236/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,600221,00.html took their tykes to theaters for this one]. [[Gorn]] to the point of [[Squick]] not withstanding. Hopefully, they learned their lesson and didn't make the same mistake when ''[[Apocalypto]]'' came out.
** The controversy is addressed in an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass". Ned Flanders, disgusted by the family-unfriendly content of many Hollywood movies (he's particularly disgusted about that series of films about [[Harry Potter (film)|"a liberal European wizard school"]]), decides to make his own films based on Bible stories. Problem is, since Ned is a fundamentalist, he goes out of his way to make his films as faithful as possible to their source (and, sometimes, even ''exaggerates'' how horrific some of the stories were). This results in Marge standing up during one of his screenings and screaming in horror and frustration because she can't stand to see any more gore, and when Ned and Homer mount a [[Super Bowl]] halftime show dramatizing the Noah's Ark story but ending it at the point where the world is flooded and most of humanity is dead, it's disastrously received. For example, there's a nice [[Stereotype Flip]] as a suburban mother complains that she's trying to raise her children as secular-progressives and is consistently foiled because "those slick Hollywood types" keep injecting religious subject matter into their films.
** When ''[[The Daily Show]]'' covered the hype and controversy about the movie, the real concerns critics had over children being taken to see it (due to the subject; see [[The Moral Substitute]]) were spoofed with a shell-shocked correspondent admitting he had taken his little son to see it, not knowing how violent it was, and unable to explain to his child why Jesus was being treated so badly beyond "Because he ''loves'' everybody?"
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* ''[[9|Nine]]'', Despite the dark tone of the advertisements, some of which explicitly state it's not for kids, many parents took their kids to see it. Insert facepalm here.
* ''[[Cool World]]''. Hell, [[Ralph Bakshi]]'s resume in general. And that's after they toned it down...
* ''[[The Happytime Murders]]''; yes, its a comedy full of cute-looking puppet characters that seem like something [[Jim Henson]] would think up, but it's [[Black Comedy]] parody of such with a story resembling a [[Quentin Tarantino]] with puppets. The only thing in this R-rated movie resembling a kids' show is the [[Show Within a Show]] with a cast being targeted by a [[Serial Killer]].
** There's also ''[[Meet the Feebles]]'' and even ''[[Let My Puppets Come]]''.
* In-story example- In ''[[Being John Malkovich]]'', John Cusack plays a puppeteer who puts on a rather racy puppet show in public, and a clueless dad mistakenly lets his young daughter watch it. This does not end well.
* The movie poster for ''[[Kids]]'' had teens in bright four-color filters laughing, smiling, and otherwise posing in a way that suggested nothing more dangerous than any other movie for late preteens from [[The Nineties]]. [[Never Trust a Trailer]], indeed. This was probably intentional - the movie really was for late preteens, because [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped]] and its anvil falls distinctly into that group. And the MPAA was all set to give ''Kids'' an NC-17 rating, but Miramax (already part of Disney) decided to release the film unrated instead.
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* ''[[Felidae]]'' is an animated film about cute little cats solving a mystery, right? Yes, and along the way we see graphic disembowelment (in one case involving a pregnant female), a cat with her head torn clean off, sex scenes, alcoholism, cursing, truly horrific animal abuse (involving a cat's skin getting burned off with acid), a suicide cult, and at one point, full-frontal human nudity (female AND male). That's an impressive list for a film about animated CATS. Dear. God.
* The ''[[Austin Powers]]'' films, despite being filled to the brim with sexual innuendo and whose second film has the word ''shag'' right in the title, seems to suffer from this greatly. Not only that, the third movie actually won an award for Favorite Movie at the 2003 Kids' Choice Awards.
** ''TIME'' reviewer Richard Corliss used ''Austin Powers'' as a starting point on an [https://web.archive.org/web/20130824122157/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002940,00.html essay about the PG-13 rating]. He even states at a certain point: "parents strongly cautioned means kids desperately wanted".
* Someone on the Malaysian censorship board decided to grant ''[[Snakes on a Plane]]'' the U Rating (Universal rating, ''meaning that it is suitable for everyone, even babies''), apparently because the title of the movie sounds like [[Critical Research Failure|it's a clean family comedy outing]]. It was eventually reclassified as a 18+ movie, but not before a horde of angry parents wrote in to the local press complaining. The Censor? He's most likely out of a job.
* Believe it or not, ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'' qualified when it was first released. Thanks to 3D and other movie gimmicks like those created by William Castle, B-movies were popular among children in the 50s and 60s. So, naturally, kids went to see this flick expecting fun-house thrills and instead saw the undead messily devouring human flesh (for starters). [[Roger Ebert]]'s first review described children watching the movie, silently crying in genuine fear. Ebert stressed that parents really shouldn't allow their kids to go see a movie called NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
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* ''[[Mystery Team]]'' is about a group of three friends solving a mystery! [[Tempting Fate|What's the worst that could happen]]?
* ''[[Love Actually]]'' seems like a nice little family Christmas movie that could be fun to take the kids to. But then there's the subplot with two stand-ins for a porn movie (complete with nudity) and an implied '''five-some''' with four American girls and one British guy. And the F-words. Again, rated 15 in the UK for a reason.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131006022008/http://www.judasandjesus.com/ Judas & Jesus] by Olaf Encke and Claudia Romero is an X-Rated 15 minute religious cartoon movie that is the equivalent of Ralph Bakshi writing a story about religious figures and then sending it to be animated by Disney.
* Mr. Moviefone of moviefone.com did reviews for a radio show for a while. In his review of ''[[Beowulf (film)|Beowulf]]'', he took the time to mention that it was ''not'' a film for kids, citing a terrified child that was in the theater that the movie was playing in at the time. The child's mother apparently either fell victim to this trope, or [[They Just Didn't Care|just didn't care]].
* Lampshaded by Rizzo in ''[[Muppet Treasure Island]]'' when Billy Bones has his heart attack.
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* [[Snow White and the Huntsman]]: Oh look, another adaption of a fairy tale Disney made by the producer of 2010's [[Alice in Wonderland]]! First of all, this movie was not made by Disney, and second, it's PG-13, due to some violence.
* The 2005 adaptation of ''[[The Producers]]'': Don't let your kids be fooled when they hear [[Hey, It's That Voice!|Max Bialystock's]] [[The Lion King|voice that sounds an awful lot like Timon]], Leo Bloom's role being done by the same person who did Simba, and also Will Ferrell as the writer of the play Max and Leo want to turn into a musical who has cute birds! This movie is rated P3-13 for a lot of sexual content.
*
===
Superhero films are no stranger to this trope, with most of them rated PG-13 and some rated R.
* DC films:
** [[DC Extended Universe]]:
*** ''[[Man of Steel]]'', ''[[Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice]]'' and ''[[Zack Snyder's Justice League]]'' known as the Snyderverse are known for their brooding tone but has some heart in it.
*** ''[[Birds of Prey (2020 film)|Birds of Prey]]'' deserved an R-rating for graphic violence, cursing and sexual humor.
*** ''[[The Suicide Squad (film)|The Suicide Squad]]'' has a hard R-rating for some nudity, tons of gore and [[Cluster F-Bomb]]s.
** ''[[Daredevil (film)|Daredevil]]'', especially the director's cut gets a special mention due to the dark and gritty tone, realistic violence and profanity.
** ''[[Fantastic Four (2005 film)|Fantastic Four]]'' has some nudity scenes, courtesy of [[Jessica Alba]], and a violent death from Doctor Doom.
** [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]]:
*** ''[[Avengers: Infinity War]]'' and ''[[Avengers: Endgame]]'' feature a tyrannical purple alien who succeeds in wiping out half of the population.
** [[Sony's Spider-Man Universe]]:
*** ''[[Venom (2018 film)|Venom]]'' has a parasitic alien eating people's heads with some blood.
*** ''[[Venom: Let There Be Carnage]]'' has a serial killer as the villain.
** ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]]'' shows a woman nearly raped by gangbangers before Spidey saves her.
*** ''[[Spider-Man 2]]'' has a woman getting killed by broken glass.
** [[X-Men (film series)|X-Men Film Series]]:
*** ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' and ''[[X-Men: First Class]]'' begin in a flashback set during the Holocaust that is hard to watch.
*** ''[[X2: X-Men United]]'': Nightcrawler gets [[Mind Rape|mind raped]] into trying to assassinate the President of the United States and Mystique pretends to have sex with a man at a bathroom while injecting him with a sedative.
*** ''[[X-Men: The Last Stand]]'' has a terrifying mutant cure plot that may remind people of ableism.
*** ''[[X-Men: Days of Future Past]]'' has some scenes set in a [[Bad Future]] where the Sentinels graphically kill some of the X-Men.
*** ''[[Deadpool (film)|Deadpool]]'' and ''[[Deadpool 2]]'' are very funny but definitely not kid-friendly. There's graphic violence, strong language and sexual humor.
*** ''[[Logan (film)|Logan]]'' has the same parental rating as the ''Deadpool'' movies but this one is more akin to a Western drama with realistic violence, strong profanity and dark thematic elements.
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimm's Fairy Tales.]]
**
* Professional storyteller
* The original stories behind the following from [[Walt Disney]] (see [[Disneyfication]]).
** Somewhat subverted, since it seems that these older original source stories were really intended for kids of all ages, back when "If you do this, you will ''DIE''" was thought to be the best way to teach kids lessons.
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** ''[[Hercules (1997 film)|Hercules]]'':
*** They left out that Hera was not his mother (which is especially egregious, considering how his very name is a reference to Hera's ire (Hera + κλέος, meaning wrath, ire). On top of that, she's actually a jealous, homicidal psycho that tried to kill him in various ways - any of these that made it to the film are attributed to [[Hijacked by Jesus|Satan-analogue]] Hades. Disney also left out that Heracles killed his own wife and children in a Hera-induced fit of psychotic rage and eventually died at the hands of his (unknowing) second wife when his skin got soaked in the venomous blood of the hydra.
** ''[[Bambi (Disney film)|Bambi]]''. Most of the characters in it that don't appear in the movie die. The author doesn't just go into graphic descriptions of terror, but of a few agonizing deaths.
*** That the author also wrote [[wikipedia:Mutzenbacher|Josephine Mutzenbacher]] could have been a hint
*** [[wikipedia:Dark Angel (band)|Dark Angel]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBJqyP_-1rU shares this point of view.]
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* Because the titular characters of ''[[The Borribles]]'' trilogy are ''like'' children, some [[Moral Guardians]] in 1980s Britain seem to have leapt to the conclusion that the books are ''for'' and ''about'' children, and objected when their content had nothing at all to do with their preconceptions.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==▼
▲== Live-Action TV ==
* Considering this article ''nothing'' beats the Dutch children's program ''[[Theo En Thea]]'' (1985-1989). This controversial kids' show talked about topics that sensible parents might consider to be unsuitable for young children, such as prostitution, drug abuse, sexual harassment... Despite all objections the show was a hit with both kids and adults alike!
* ''[[Star Trek]]'' series were generally aired during a family-viewing time (i.e. after five but before nine). Can't speak for the other series, but with ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|TNG]]'' throwing out several episodes dealing with heads blowing up, heads being blown ''off'', human laboratory experiments, bloody death scenes, psychological and physical torture (that were advised on by the folks at Amnesty International) and let's not forget the Borg ... you have to wonder whether this was always a good idea.
** Also, there's [[The Captain|Picard]] {{spoiler|getting a sword through the heart}}, getting trapped as a [[Brain Uploading|program of pure information]] inside the ship's computers {{spoiler|[[Cloning Blues|only to be erased in favor of another copy of himself taken just a few seconds ago]] [[Unreliable Narrator|according to Troi]]}}, [[Sapient Ship|Barkley merging with the
** On a "lighter note", [[The Lancer|Riker]] tries to [[If You Know What I Mean|"lance"]] just about everything that is [[Boldly Coming|remotely female, alien and humanoid]]. Just having [[Mr. Exposition|Deanna Troi]] [[
** And in [[Star Trek: The Original Series|TOS]] alone there's plenty of this. How about the episode "The Paradise Syndrome" where {{spoiler|Kirk gets married to a woman, gets her pregnant, and then she gets stoned to death. On camera.}} Yeah.
** In the opening moments of [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|DS9
** In a similar vein, ''[[Star Trek Enterprise|Enterprise]]''{{'}}s "Unexpected" is also about [[Black Comedy Rape|rape as a joke]]. It falls somewhere between date rape and child molestation. Sure Trip's an adult, but the lizard lady's dialog just screams "I've got candy in my van", calling her sexing up of Trip "a game we play" when he doesn't know what's happening.
** Let's not forget ''[[Deep Space Nine]]''{{'}}s "The Siege of AR-558" which features the Dominion's shock troops attempting to {{spoiler|reclaim a communications outpost that had been seized months earlier by the Federation.}} The Defiant shows up to provide supplies at first, but the crew remains behind when {{spoiler|The Jem'Hadar sneak attack Nog and they realize a siege is inevitable. He winds up losing a leg due to that and what follows is a quite violent fight against a horde of shock troops, all while classy jazz music plays, thanks to Bashir having a recording of Vic Fontaine singing.}}
** Then there are [[The Virus|The Borg]] and [[It Got Worse|Species 8472]]. The former feature [[Body Horror]], [[You Will Be Assimilated]] and [[Fate Worse Than Death]]. The latter are [[Omnicidal Maniac]] race that makes hills out of severed Borg heads for breakfast and [[Earthshattering Kaboom|blows up planets for dinner]]. {{spoiler|It's more complicated but this was in the show.}} They '''also''' feature [[Body Horror]] and [[Fate Worse Than Death]], though in ways '''different''' from the Borg. Did we mention they both feature [[Nightmare Fuel]]?
*
{{quote|"Kids' show, kids' show
oh good lord it's a kids' show"}}
**
* According to Lisa Kudrow, she has met kids claiming that their parents let them watch ''[[Friends]]''. While ''Friends'' is not particularly vulgar by modern standards, there are still way too many storylines revolving around sex to consider it appropriate for younger viewers.
** The same probably{{verify}} applies to most prime time sitcoms.{{context
* [http://shinga.deviantart.com/art/Head-Trip-All-Greek-To-Me-61559835/ ABC Family]. Either ABC/Disney or Fox before them ''wanted'' to change it, but their contract with Pat Robertson requires them to keep "Family" in the channel name (and to run ''The 700 Club'' before midnight... [[Snark Bait|maybe]] they could give it a [[Laugh Track]]?).
** [[ABC Family]] also airs reruns of ''[[That '70s Show]]'' which has many references to sex and implies marijuana usage with the kids in the circle. Granted, it has both written and spoken warnings along the lines of "The following material may be inappropriate for younger viewers" before each episode.
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** [[Kamen Rider Ex-Aid]]{{context}}
== [[Music]] ==
* There were these toothbrushes that played music when used. One of them played [[KISS|Detroit Rock City]] when used, and the song was also in the ads. [[Sarcasm Mode|Because a song about a guy going way over the speed limit while listening to KISS and going to a KISS Concert and getting into a head-on collision with a large truck and DYING is for kids!]]. Did we mention it's a true story and one of the lyrics is either "I know I'm gonna die, why?" or "I know I'm gonna die, and I don't care!" depending on the version?
* As with the original book, ''[[Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds]]'', even if it goes into slightly less graphical detail.
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*** And it's featured in said roller coaster (though retitled "Love in a Roller Coaster"). As well as other [[Intercourse with You]] songs, such as "Young Lust" and "F.I.N.E.<ref>"[[Fun with Acronyms|Fucked Up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional]]"</ref>"
** That one of their members did the music for one ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' game couldn't have helped.
* "[[Voltaire (musician)|BRAINS!]]" is a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i7tqWMbUFU fun song] from a [[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* According to an interview in the late 1990s, [[Lil' Kim]] was appalled at how some of her fans were proudly playing her songs for their young children. Lil' Kim was well-known for her sexually-explicit lyrics, extolling the virtues of oral sex (giving and receiving) among other topics. [[Word of God|She specifically said]], "My music is NOT for kids."
* [[Gorillaz]]. "They're an animated band, [[Animation Age Ghetto|they are cartoons, they must be for kids!]]". Yet their songs are about drugs, kidnapping, satanism, rape, murder ...
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* "''I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world...''" "''You can brush my hair, undress me anywhere...''" What do you mean the lyrics are sexual? It's about [[Barbie]]! It's kid friendly!
* The song "(I'm) Sexy and I Know It" is being used in ads for ''Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'', a ''kids'' movie. First of all, the band is called LMFAO, which stands for "Laugh My F**king A** Off". Second, they're getting popular with 9 to 11-year-olds, even though all of their songs involve having sex with ladies (often [[Male Gaze|staring at their boobs]]), swearing like [[Cluster F-Bomb|the F bomb is a preschool word]], and drinking beer to your death.
* "Teen idol" pop music is popular with ten-year old girls. Consider how many songs in that genre is about sex.▼
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
== Professional Wrestling ==▼
* It's (partly) unintentional here. When it began to be touted as popular entertainment in about the 1940s, pro wrestling ''was'' family-friendly. The faces always did the right thing, the heels were evil [[But Not Too Evil]], and moral ambiguity was never created. This pattern began to break down once "[[Evil Foreigner|Arab]]" wrestlers such as The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher began staging deliberately gory matches (the equivalent of "Hardcore" matches today) and the heel characters actually began to be depicted as [[Loveable Rogue]]s and competent enough in the ring not to have to resort to cheating all the time. All bets were off once the "[[Attitude Era]]" got underway in the late '90s and sex and violence (and even the occasional dollop of Satanism) actually became the selling points - ''but parents still took their children to the shows''!▼
** In [[Turn of the Millennium|the late 2000s]], [[WWE|World Wrestling Entertainment]] tried to steer itself back toward more family-friendly entertainment, but even that seems to be over now.▼
== Religion ==▼
* For people who only think of [[The Bible]] as only "Jesus and the Ten Commandments," they could be in for [[Values Dissonance|quite a shock]]. The Old Testament includes laws about slavery, and has stories of blood, gore, pre-meditated murder, incest, rape, and genocide. There's also the [[Hotter and Sexier|Song of Solomon]], Ezekiel and his donkey penis metaphors (or perhaps just straight comparisons), and the entire story of Samson.
* [[Classical Mythology]] is taught in classrooms. Granted, often it's a bare-bones, watered down version—but recounting stories like that of Aphrodite's birth (she was born from Ouranos' nads, which were chopped off by Cronos and thrown to the sea), or that Zeus and Hera were both brother and sister and husband and wife, has to be difficult to teachers of twelve-year-old students.
▲== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
▲* It's (partly) unintentional here. When it began to be touted as popular entertainment in about the 1940s, pro wrestling ''was'' family-friendly. The faces always did the right thing, the heels were evil [[But Not Too Evil]], and moral ambiguity was never created. This pattern began to break down once "[[Evil Foreigner|Arab]]" wrestlers such as The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher began staging deliberately gory matches (the equivalent of "Hardcore" matches today) and the heel characters actually began to be depicted as [[Loveable Rogue]]s and competent enough in the ring not to have to resort to cheating all the time. All bets were off once the "[[Attitude Era]]" got underway in the late '90s and sex and violence (and even the occasional dollop of Satanism) actually became the selling points - ''but parents still took their children to the shows''!
▲** In [[Turn of the Millennium|the late 2000s]], [[
== [[Tabletop
* The hobbyist boardgaming industry runs in to this every which way, to the extent that some US publishers put notices like "THIS PRODUCT IS NOT A TOY, NOT INTENDED FOR USE OF PERSONS 12 YEARS OR YOUNGER" on titles containing heavier subject matter (example given from [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71721/space-hulk-death-angel-the-card-game this]—apparently the title didn't give it away, nor the face-eating aliens, brutally beweaponed killing machines, and human skull motifs on the cover). After all, board games are kids' stuff, right?
* ''[[Bunnies and Burrows]]'' is a game based loosely on ''[[Watership Down]]'' and is chock full of cute little player controlled rabbits being brutally eaten by predators, ravaged by disease, and otherwise struggling to survive. Gamers thought it was for kids because [[Disneyfication|it has talking rabbits]], kids were disappointed when they found out there were no [[Dungeons & Dragons|wizards slinging fireballs for 50,000 damage]]. It has, however, become a [[Cult Classic]] among those who understand this is not a kids game.
== [[Theatre]] ==
* ''[[
▲* ''[[Series/Avenue Q|Avenue Q]]'' could very well qualify. Almost all the characters are ''[[Sesame Street]]''-style '''puppets'''. Misguided adults might decide to take their children (despite the warning signs outside the theatre). Then the puppets curse and have sex and sing about porn.
** Don't forget misguided adults taking their own misguided family-friendly selves along, too. Heard inside the theater lobby before the show: a poor souvenir vendor attempting to explain to an increasingly-shocked-and-disgusted adult patron what "Yeah, They're Real" referred to.
* The [[Reduced Shakespeare Company]]: Parents bring their children to watch dirty raps and puppet shagging.
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* ''[[The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee]]'' is a show about elementary school and middle school children at a [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|spelling bee]]. Then comes the four-letter words, [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|vulgar-sounding words]], and an entire song about Chip's boner.
As mentioned multiples times above, any movie with the slightest potential for merchandising will probably have toys made for them. Often regardless of the film's actual rating.
* ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]'' action figures: free Facehugger with each Alien!
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* Burger King's "Kids' Club" meals included toys based on the ''Twilight'' film ''New Moon'' . . . which was rated PG-13 and not aimed at younger kids at ''all.''
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]''. The concept of a puzzle game with quirky humor, cake, and a metal box with a pink heart on it may sound kid friendly at first, up until the part where you learn that the psychotic AI nerve-gassed every living creäture in the facility, {{spoiler|''on Take Your Daughter To Work'' day.}}
** And look, [[Portal 2]] has cute little robots that give each other high fives! [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|Let's see how many ways they can violently kill each other!]]
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* ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' somehow got past the radar. As [[Let's Play|its LP]] [http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/soulnomad/ put it]:
{{quote|Soul Nomad was rated T by the ESRB. This clearly indicates that the ESRB never actually played the game, because among other things Soul Nomad has [http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/soulnomad/1-Gigbanner33.jpg near constant swearing from the main character], rape, murder, slavery, a dash of genocide, and all sorts of other happy fun times. And most of that’s in the Normal Path. [[Nightmare Fuel|The Demon Path is]] [[It Got Worse|much, much worse.]]}}
* Do not let your kids play ''[[Eversion]]'' at all despite [[Crap Saccharine World|its family-friendly looks]]. Hell, even [https://
* ''[[Monster Party]]'' for the NES was released back when there were no ratings for games, and it has gory visuals throughout.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090316061432/http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/watchdog-group-nintendo-no-longer-quot-family-friendly-quot-/1295531 The National Institute on Media and the Family] has taken Nintendo to task for releasing ''[[MadWorld]]'' on their "family friendly" [[Wii]]. Apparently they didn't notice ''[[Red Steel]]'', ''[[No More Heroes]],'' ''[[House of the Dead]]'', ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]'', ''[[Dead Rising]]'', ''[[Deadly Creatures]]'', ''[[Resident Evil]]'', and ''[[Manhunt]]'' and thus, they became one more laughing-stock on the Internet. Nintendo countered to [[Fun with Acronyms|NIMF]]'s claim about the Wii being "for the entire family" by saying that the Wii is indeed for everyone... and when saying "everyone", they throw in hardcore gamers in the equation. Apparently, [[Fan Dumb|no one associates "hardcore gamer" with "family" today]].
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** Even the free version has the aforementioned {{spoiler|decapitation by [[Deadly Doctor]] ending, who also mentions that he'd like to [[Squick|get intimate with your innards]] when he's done}}, which should tell you how kid-friendly this game ''ain't''.
{{quote|'''[[Let's Play|Angie Gallant]]:''' A fat bird should not be {{spoiler|fucking my intestines}}!}}
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Las Lindas]]'' is passable as a kiddy looking comic. Bright colors, animal people...and then you get to [https://web.archive.org/web/20111101082426/http://laslindas.katbox.net/?p=13 page 5...]
* ''[[Lackadaisy]]'' contains gorgeous art of furry cat people with often enormous and adorable kitty eyes (the author admits she was influenced by Disney films like ''[[Bambi (Disney film)|Bambi]]'' as a child)- and they earn their keep by bootlegging, people-hacking, and general classy dirty-handedness. Even the cutest member of the cast turns out to be one of the craziest.
* Several posters in the Giant In The Playground forums were offended by sexual content in a recent ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0622.html comic], on the grounds that "children read this comic." So, apparently it's okay for kids to watch stick figures kill each other in various brutal ways (including {{spoiler|[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0639.html committing genocide]}}), but masturbation jokes are just going too far. Never mind that anyone who's mature enough to [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|realise it's a masturbation reference]] probably has [[A Worldwide Punomenon|first-hand experience]] of the activity.
* The creators of ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' did [https://web.archive.org/web/20090918112929/http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/7/23/san-diego-sketchbook-adult-content/ a sketch] about the possibility of children reading their work. [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/6/17/ Elsewhere], they mention being invited to a school to give a class on drawing—they went, and enjoyed it, but they made damn sure to cut the URL from the make-your-own-comic templates that they handed out.
* The authors of [[Girl Genius]] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/info/newreader.php felt it necessary to explain the comic is for older teens and up.] For readers who skip the New Reader page, the blatant [[Fan Service]] is probably a clue.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130719183412/http://www.drunkduck.com/Jix/ Jix] is about a blue furry alien, but has mild cussing and various comics filled with copious amounts of cartoony gore...and partial nudity from time to time from the human character.
* ''[[Sandra and Woo]]'': Since it's about a girl who finds a talking raccoon, it must be for little kids, right? [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2008/10/30/a-lesson-for-life/ Only] [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2008/11/17/negotiating-methods/ if you] [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/01/15/0025-an-overdue-visit/ ignore] [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/02/02/0030-naypyidaw-sector-1/ all the] [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/02/19/0035-reliable-sources/ early] [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/02/23/0036-latest-issue/ clues].
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
▲== Web Original ==
* [[Tasakeru]]: It's a series about cute, fluffy [[Funny Animal|talking animals]] like squirrels and rabbits... which involves bloody warfare, racism (speciesism?), [[Knight Templar|religious intolerance]], [[Mind Rape]], and not a little [[If You Know What I Mean|innuendo]].
* A lot of parents seem to think that because it is a musical, ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]'' is perfectly fine for small children. Considering that it's centered around a villain's [[Start of Darkness]] and it sports lyrics such as "It's a brand new day, and the sun is high / All the birds are singing that you're gonna die"...yeah. A lot of it probably goes over the kiddies' heads anyway (one would hope), but still...
** Not to mention the "the hammer is my penis" line.
** [[Felicia Day]] mentions in the commentary ([[Commentary! The Musical|not that one]]) a fan who wrote to tell her "my nine-year-old daughter loved you in this... until Act 3."
▲* "Teen idol" pop music is popular with ten-year old girls. Consider how many songs in that genre is about sex.
▲** There are ten-year-old girls who are fans of the song [[The Guild|"Do You Wanna Date My Avatar"]]. You know, that song that's pretty much about cybersex.
* ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]''. Always starts out innocent and cute, with colorful [[Woodland Creatures]] having innocent fun. [[Kill'Em All|And then]] [[Body Horror|the killing starts]].
** To make it worse, Youtube uses the TV Parental Guidelines and Happy Tree Friends got a TV-Y rating, the lowest one.
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* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNqEQm91VoA Mario Plush Forever], [[Mario Plush Forever|a plush series on Machinima]]. The name and the introduction of each episode makes it sound like it's just a kid friendly show, but you'll get to the first episode, which involves a curse that [[Nightmare Fuel|makes people have uncontrollable farts ... and turn into mindless demons]]! The first few episodes aren't too graphic, but once you get to Episode 10, spoiler:things start getting graphic to the point where the director is putting a viewer discretion warning before each episode.
* Don't be fooled by the first two minutes of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C_HReR_McQ Don't Hug Me I'm Scared]. It looks like a ''[[Sesame Street]]'' clone at first but there's a reason it's called that.
* While ''[[Lobo (web series)|Lobo]]'' is based on DC Comics, like the character, it is filled with tons of gore, strong language, sexual content and drug usage. It doesn't help that is has voice actors known for kids' cartoons such as [[Kevin Michael Richardson]], [[Tom Kenny]], [[Grey DeLisle]] and [[Dee Bradley Baker]].
* ''[[Dick Figures]]'' had a lot of fans during its run who were in the 7-12 range. While it's nowhere near as bad as it may sound from the title, it's still full of sex jokes, [[Family-Unfriendly Violence]], swearing (including lots of F-bombs) and drinking, most of which comes from the main character Red. [https://www.awn.com/animationworld/whats-even-better-dick-figures-episode-dick-figures-movie The creators are aware of their young fans] but don't seem that fazed about it, despite the show having content like Lord Tourettes [[Black Comedy Rape|raping a bear onscreen.]] Not helping is the fact that its creator would go on to [[Unikitty|work on]] [[Teen Titans Go! (animation)|stuff]] [[Pickle and Peanut|made]] [[The Cuphead Show|for]] [[The Super Mario Bros. Movie|kids.]]
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* One of the first and most controversial for parents being ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'', a pair of idiotic teenagers who do dangerous things and try to get laid. [[Do Not Try This At Home|Some kids were caught imitating some of the things they did like putting their pets in the washing machine and dropping bowling balls into traffic; it was also blamed for a kid setting his trailer on fire killing his younger sibling (the family was later discovered to not have cable) resulting in a ban on fire related activity and moving the show to a later time.]]
* One of the biggest is ''[[South Park]]'', despite airing at a time when kids should be in bed some watch it anyway. Despite the animation using a paper cut-out doll style, it is ''full'' of swearing, violent death, gore (especially in the later seasons), uncensored cartoon nudity, implied sexual abuse and rape, and child abuse both implied and confirmed. People with various predjudices aren't always directly punished, and childish innocence is rarely a good thing, which might confuse children. It also makes fun of [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]], references many current events, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and has Eric Cartman in a starring role.]]
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{{quote|'''Lois''': [Values] come from inside, from your own beliefs.
'''Peter''': I agree, Lois. Like, for instance, if you're watching a TV show and you decide to take your values from that, you're an idiot. Maybe you should take responsibility for what values your kids are getting. Maybe you shouldn't be letting your kids watch certain shows in the first place if you have such a big problem with them, [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch|instead of blaming the shows themselves.]] ([[Breaking the Fourth Wall|Peter looks at the audience]]) Yeah. }}
* Despite the fact that Cartoon Network's nocturnal block is called '''[[Adult Swim]]'''
** Teletoon, the Canadian version of Cartoon network, specifically airs warnings before and during each show from 9pm on (the "Teletoon at Night" block) that the shows are not intended for children. They actually build in a margin for error in that they start with an hour of ''[[Futurama]]'' and then come the shows like ''[[Moral Orel]]'', ''[[Archer]]'', and ''[[Squidbillies]]''. By the time the later shows role around the warnings include comments like "...meant for 14 years of age and older. And if you aren't 14, what are you doing up this late?"
* The [[DC Universe Original Animated Movies]] are not very appropriate for young children as they include graphic violence, swearing, and some sexual content and jokes - they're not bloodsoaked [[Gorn]]-fests, but definitely earning their PG-13s and Rs by not being bound by kids' show rules. It probably doesn't help that the [[DCAU]] with the exception of ''[[Lobo (web series)|Lobo]]'' fits [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|elsewhere]].
* ''[[Slacker Cats]]''. It was on ''[[ABC Family]]''. The first episode alone has necrophilia. And pornography. As for why it was on ABC Family? The original sale from the Christian Broadcasting Network to Fox/Saban contained a stipulation that the [[Artifact Title|channel contain the word "Family" in the name forever]], no matter who owns the network. And no matter what's actually on the channel, apparently.
* ''[[The Haunted World of El Superbeasto]]'' looks like it was done by [[Ren and Stimpy|Spumco]] but is full of extreme violence, sexual situations, innuendo, nudity, and swearing.
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* ''[[Fish Police (animation)|Fish Police]]'' was a Hanna-Barbera cartoon about antropomorphic fish, with colorful backgrounds and many fish-themed puns, ''very'' loosely based on a [[Fish Police (comics)|comic book series]]. It was also filled with content that, at the very least, counts as [[Parental Bonus]] turned [[Up to Eleven]]. Examples include ''tons'' of innuendo, rampant sexual tension between main characters, dialogue bound to go over kids' heads (either explicitly sex related or not), and, in one episode, an entire red lantern district, complete with a pimp and prostitutes soliciting clients in the streets, shops with pornography ("Fishy Videos") and equivalents of S/M gear. And a brothel. No wonder only six episodes were made.
== Other Media ==▼
▲== Other ==
* Several stories on [[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]] show that some parents believe "animation" automatically equals "suitable for children."
** Ditto films about "superheroes" (read: ''[[Watchmen (film)|Watchmen]]'') or fairy tales (''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]'').
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** [https://web.archive.org/web/20150523194623/http://www.halloween31.com/pages-productinfo-category-7_125-product-5959/kids-costumesall-boy-costumeschucky-doll-costume-child-size-kids-chucky-costume.html Chucky the murdering doll]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20150523194030/http://www.halloween31.com/pages-productinfo-category-7_125-product-5195/kids-costumesall-boy-costumeshalloween-michael-myers-jumpsuit-with-mask-child.html Michael Myers from Halloween.] Insert joke about how the new Michael Myers has mommy issues
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20131004182708/http://www.mypartyplanner.com/products/texas-chainsaw-massacre-leatherface-child-halloween-costume.html A Leather Face costume, really?]
* One of Anonymous's pranks invoked this trope. Anonymous members uploaded a bunch of porn videos to [[YouTube]] disguised as kid-friendly stuff like [[Miley Cyrus]] and the [[Jonas Brothers]], so kids would watch the videos and get quite a nasty shock. One user responded with [[Memetic Mutation|the now-famous phrase]], "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/im-twelve-years-old-and-what-is-this I'm 12 years old and what is this?]"
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Medicines and drugs are sometimes packaged as "edibles" in a way as to appear confusingly similar to food or candy. That's a problem if the proper dose for a marijuana edible is one piece of a gummybear candy or one square of a chocolate bar — for an adult — but the product looks like a common foodstuff for which the serving size is the entire package (such as one candy bar). While this overlaps [[I Ate What?]] (and maybe [[Dog Food Diet]] if [[Defictionalisation]] is used to peddle "Scooby snacks"), it is a hazard as the proper dose is age or weight-dependent and an overdose may sicken the patient.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:The Silent Age of Animation]]
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[[Category:Unexpected Reactions to This Index]]
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