Can you delete a mistake?

WARNING: This post contains statistics on suicide and how the information caused recent changes to the series “Thirteen Reasons Why.”

Jay Asher’s 2007 novel “Thirteen Reasons Why” takes the reader’s through the story of a high school student’s reasons why she ultimately committed suicide. The book became a series on Netflix in 2017 and while the book received several awards, the series did not receive the same accolades. Much of the criticism is based on the graphic scene showing the main character committing suicide.

The Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found an increase of suicides rates in boys aged 10 to 17, specifically the month it was released, April 2017. That month had “the highest overall suicide rate for this age group in the past five years” (Carey, 2019, para. 2) and continued to remain elevated through the year. Although the study could not directly link if watching the show influenced the suicide of the viewer, the study took into account several other possible influences, but it was undeniable the spike of 30% for the 10-17 age group during the month the series was released.

Taking this study into consideration, the creator, Brian Yorkey, agreed to remove the scene of the character committing suicide, in addition to additional warnings before the entire series and specific episodes with graphic scenes.

While the scene is now deleted, it doesn’t change that some people may have been affected, consequently, having changed the lives of their friends and family.

In our efforts to connect with consumers through our creative campaigns, do we take into consideration the possible negative effects? In creating a conversation through social marketing to bring awareness on a topic, is it possible that we bring other unintended results that can be good or bad? Are we ready for those possible negative outcomes? By trying to capture the attention of our audience, is it okay to push the envelope on sensitive topics without consulting industry professionals?

While I respect the creative aspect of storytelling, a successful tactic in marketing, is it okay to bend ethics since a mistake can be deleted? Is it okay to offend your audience, especially if your tweet can be deleted or a commercial can be taken off the air/offline? Has our ability to easily delete things made it easier to push ethics aside? In this technological society, can we simply just delete the mistake?

Reference

Carey, B. (2019, April 29). In month after ’13 Reasons Why’ debut on Netflix, study finds teen suicide grew. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/health/13-reasons-why-teen-suicide.html?module=inline

Marshall, A. (2019, July 16). Netflix deletes ‘13 Reasons Why’ suicide scene. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/arts/television/netflix-deleted-13-reasons-why-suicide-scene.html