Channel 4 programme “Big Brother” (and its offshoot Celebrity Big Brother) should be banned

I believe that the Channel 4 programme "Big Brother" (and its offshoot Celebrity Big Brother) should be banned.

Reasons

1. It can cause immense emotional suffering to individual contestants to the extent that the Mental Health Foundation has publicly expressed their concern over the selection of housemates.

2. The "show" is intended for adults, but it is seems that many under-aged children are watching, exposing them to an unacceptable range of anti-social behavior including racism, bitching and bullying, physical assaults, explicit sexual shenanigans, over-consumption and love of alcohol, swearing, etc.

3. The show aims to, and is indeed specifically designed to exploit and manipulate not only the housemates but also the viewing public both financially and emotionally.

4. Both past and recent Big Brother "episodes" have resulted in serious health and other personal consequences for several housemates, including death threats, threatening phone calls, public intimidation, depression, thoughts of suicide etc.

5. Concerns have been raised regarding the fairness of such issues as the selection process, voting, evictions, etc., and in particular, the association of these activities with premium line phone voting and gambling.

6. The whole ethos and values portrayed within the show needs to be questioned, particularly considering the most recent public and media debacle over alleged racist bullying (for a detailed analysis of who were the real bullies see
http://www.bstephenson.com/selfometer/articles/articles_racist_bullying.asp below).

Therefore, we the undersigned, call upon Ofcom to put an end to this most offensive, distressing and manipulative type of TV programming.

References:

BBC News Online, 17 January 2007. Big Brother's history of bother. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6270963.stm.

BBC News Online, 22 January 2005. Bets off after Big Brother 'leak'. Available at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4198427.stm.

Daily
Mail Online, 22 June 2004. Proof Big Brother's gone too far. Available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/bigbrother.html?in_article_id=306988&in_page_id=1815.

The Mirror. 27 January 2007. School Bullies Copy BB Stars. Available at
http://www.mirror.co.uk/catchall/tm_method=full%26objectid=18538030%26siteid=89520-name_page.html.

The Register, 14 August 2006. Industry Fights Back in Big Brother Voting Row. Available at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/14/noc_vs_icstis/.

The Register, 5 October 2006. Big Brother Voting Ruled Misleading. Available at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/05/icstis_big_brother_ruling/.

The Selfometer, 9 March 2007. Celebrity Big Brother and Alleged Racist Bullying. Available at http://www.bstephenson.com/selfometer/articles/articles_racist_bullying.asp.

The Sun Online, Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, Narinder Kaur of
Big Brother 2. Available at http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,11049-2006430591_7,00.html.

The Sun Online, Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, Lesley Sanderson
of Big Brother 6. Available at http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,11049-2006430591_3,00.html.

The Sun Online, 21 September 2006. The Curse of Big Brother by Bella Battle. Available at http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,11049-2006430591,00.html.

The Sun Online, 22 January 2007. Jade suicidal after race row, by Sarah
Nathan. Available at http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2007030451,00.html.