"Our future society is desperately bloodthirsty. When they fight, you see people just foaming at the mouth out of excitement at the destruction. It's a kid's movie!"
— Bayer and Snider, Movie B.S. on Real Steel
Often times, productions that are marketed to children make us wonder if they were created for them, because of potentially explicit content, serious and mature plots or both. Namely, if these shows have an awful lot of Parental Bonus, Parent Service, and the like. Unfortunately, this can also bring Moral Guardians out of the woodwork if it seems to be blatant enough. This can also happen when something is given a G rating but has an awful lot of potentially explicit content.
This phenomenon can also occur due to Values Dissonance. For example, formerly acceptable targets are, by definition, no longer acceptable, Real Life tragedies can make things Harsher in Hindsight, and different countries' Moral Guardians have different standards note . There's also the fact that, in the past, the line between "child" and "adult" wasn't always drawn at the same age as it is now, and children weren't always expected to be shielded by default from the horrible realities of the world around them. Even aside from this, a good number of children are quite fond of scary or violent things, and are often too young to understand the reasons many of these stories are considered dark.
Another major reason for this reaction is that the core cast of the work in question are animals instead of humans. It has been noted with many examples listed here that despite often having similar mature themes along with blood and violence, whether the cast is human or animal seems to solely determine whether it gets shelved to the young adult or children's section respectively in bookstores and libraries, a fact that is sometimes exploited by creators seeking to Get Crap Past The Radar. This is especially the case for non-visual media like books, where everything is restricted to the reader's imagination, as opposed to film, where the imagery is on full display.
Often confused with What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?, where a work is commonly mistaken as being for kids even when it is not. When played for laughs, see Demographically Inappropriate Humour. If it's not mature content, but difficulty that makes you question a kid-oriented game's target audience, that falls under Surprise Difficulty.
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Advertising
- The advertising campaign
for Kellogg's Fruit Wind-Ups consisted of CGI anthropomorphic fruit killing their normal-shaped but sentient brethren in extremely sadistic and cruel ways in order to make the product. This leads to things like innocent fruit desperately begging not to die; one involved the evil fruit sucking all the juice out of an orange, leaving his dead empty skin laying in the street. If anything, it's Sausage Party meets Danganronpa.
- One Got Milk? ad featured two children who refuse to drink milk, because they believe milk is for babies. They tell their mother that their elderly next-door neighbor, Mr. Miller, never drinks milk. They see him going to use his wheelbarrow when suddenly his arms rip off because, having not consumed milk, his bones are weak and fragile. The children scream in horror and then frighteningly start imbibing every last drop of milk they have. This ad was enough to have ex-California Governor Gray Davis demand that the National Milk Processor Education Program yank it from broadcast.
- This Australian commercial for the Nintendo Entertainment System comes off as very creepy in itself. Despite lacking any of the gore or gruesomeness in other examples in this folder, the dated 3D models and droning robot voices are definitely a big source of Nightmare Fuel. The Super Mario Bros. 1 castle theme playing during the taunting speech of "YOU CANNOT BEAT US" really doesn't help matters.
- In 1989, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society created this animated PIF against whale hunting on the Faroe Islands. Despite the fact that it features whales being graphically slaughtered with lots of blood as they scream, the makers of the PIF wanted it to appear before the movie When the Whales Came, which is rated U in the PIF's country of origin, the United Kingdom.
Asian Animation
- The level of violence in Black Cat Detective probably wouldn't be allowed in any modern children's show. Most graphically, in the very first episode, the protagonist shoots the ear off the main villain who is then shown holding his own severed ear, with blood all over his hand and head. In general, the graphic shooting and stabbing of Mooks is clearly seen as no big deal. Civilians and heroes can die too; for example, in one episode, a monkey child gets eaten by the villain.
- Despite Catch! Teenieping being rated for younger audiences, it has some dark moments such as Egoping attempting to harm Romi in the last two episodes in the first season, Jenny using the spell book to hurt the Jewel Dragon by stabbing its wings in "Heartsping in Danger", Puffping getting corrupted and later painfully turns into a monster, and even Heartsping and almost all of the Star Teeniepings dying (temporarily) by turning into dust in the season 5 finale. Also, it had a sad topic about death in "Wandering Petitping" which had the mentioned death of Maya's pet goldfish.
- Happy Friends is undeniably a children's show, but it contains some dark scenes and pieces of lore, such as the story about Doctor H. missing his Disappeared Dad, the episode in Season 7 where a certain character sacrifices themselves, and another episode in Season 14 where the Dark Demon stabs Happy S. and turns him into his Jixie Stone form. The Season 7 episode in particular is notable, as it's one of the episodes that was made available on Miao Mi, a Hong Kong-based educational service and channel for preschool and kindergarten-aged children.
- The earlier seasons (notably season 1) of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf is often criticized for being quite violent and stretching the boundaries of Slapstick into Family-Unfriendly Violence. People cite the incident where a kid caused serious harm after imitating the show. Fans defend the show by saying that the show itself is fine and that parents should be more mindful if they're worried about it.
- Shinbi's Haunted House is about two siblings and a friendly goblin. Every episode features the trio catching various kinds of ghosts, sometimes accompanied with their two classmates as well. Many of their encounters are incredibly scary, going as far as including Humanoid Abominations! Sprinkle in chunks of Body Horror here and there, a batch of Nightmare Fuel, and a bunch of depressing backstories, and now you've got some perfect Nightmare Fuel in your hands. All this despite the show being aimed at children.
Comic Strips
- This trope was invoked in a Bloom County strip, where one character is going around telling everyone "the awful truth" about, well, everything. He comes to Steve and says "The truth is, Knight Rider is a kid's show!" to which Steve replies. "Can't be. Can't &%^#ing be!"
- Little Nemo. It's a whole nightmare world! Though this is more of a shift in what is acceptable for children. It was a lot more open at that time as shown with other so-called children's books during that time like The Wind in the Willows, which would almost be impossible to publish as a kid's book now. There's even a panel where Little Nemo, who is about nine at that point, is reading Gulliver's Travels.
Fan Works
- Misuse of the ratings on FanFiction.Net and Archive of Our Own can lead to people believing this. There are fanfics on the former rated K or K+ that contain things like cursing and lemons. On the latter, the ratings have no clear guidelines, so it is common for fics that have F-bombs in their tags or explicit sexual kinks to be rated for general audiences.
- The final story of Calvin & Hobbes: The Series, "Black Rain", contains the Slender Man. In a kid's show. This is only the tip of the iceberg (for one, the opening of the episode plays out like a non-murderous version of a horror movie).
- Approximately half of all entries in the Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare Shared Universe which includes For Him to be Blamed, For Them to Fix are rated K or K+, with the source material being a family-friendly if not kid-friendly experience. Without going into detail, let's just say a military war, and more specifically several particularly harrowing character arcs, are not kind to either of those principles.
- The Inside Out story Intercom has a K+ rating on Fanfiction.net, which is generally the equivalent to the original film's PG rating. In spite of that, however, this story is pretty dark (at least once Cerebus Syndrome kicks in) as it features rather mature subjects such as mental disorders and Riley deciding to take anti-psychosis medication behind her parents' back. Luckily the latter point is alleviated, but then worse problems begin to arise...
- My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic preaches that things like love and tolerance are actually worthless and only brutal force can lead to true happiness. Characters get Killed Off for Real in rather brutal ways for little kids, and there are certain sexual innuendos to be found in the entire story. Yet the author proclaims that the fanfiction is way better entertainment for kids than the actual show it rips off of. The best example for it may be a chapter of My Brave Pony: Star Fleet Magic II, in which Fluttershy is in the hospital to be operated on. A changeling slips in and tries to kill her by cutting her open and letting her bleed to death.
- The creator of the fanon SpongeBob spinoff Warriors of Bikini Bottom claims the show is intended for middle school age and up, but that doesn't stop it from having characters discussing their sex lives (and on occasion, even having sex), swearing in the transcripts, and having various gory fights.
- The first few seasons of The Pokémon Squad were supposedly aimed at children, but still had a fair few raunchy elements; Brock was still a pervert (albeit not as bad as he is nowadays), Barney the Dinosaur was still clearly a pedophile, there was tons of drunkenness Played for Laughs and not to mention all the violent ways Fanboy and Chum Chum died. The later seasons avert this trope, as it took a Genre Shift for a more adult audience.
Poems
- God's Judgment on a Bishop has appeared in books meant for children despite featuring scenes of gruesome violence (a large gathering of poor people being locked in a barn and burned to death, followed by the one responsible being eaten alive by rats). Likely a case of Values Dissonance given the age of the poem.
- There's one kids' skipping rope poem that references the real life murders attributed to a woman named Lizzie Borden, and in fact makes them even darker, with Lizzie being said to have whacked her mother forty times and her father forty-one times.
- Who Killed Cock Robin? is a Nursery Rhyme, which are always meant for very young children, but its explicitly about a murder, with Never Say "Die" averted hard and a mention of blood. Hasn’t stopped it from being included in YouTube Kids compilations.
Roleplay
- An in-universe example in Airlocked. While the titular Immoral Reality Show, disguised and marketed as fiction, is full of violence, murder, and innuendo (and that's not even mentioning Season 3 being Hotter and Sexier by design), there are examples of merchandise geared towards all ages and multiple children in the fanbase, including one or two cosplaying toddlers. Word of God is that space has a wide variety of age rating systems.
- Dino Attack RPG is a fun family adventure on a family-friendly website with death, destruction, genocide, drugs, alcohol, sexism, smoking, homophobia, unstoppable cosmic horrors, child abuse, murder, betrayal, and torture, among other things.
Tabletop Games
- Not Parent Approved promotes itself as a "kid-friendly" version of Cards Against Humanity for ages 8 and up. Even so, some cards are still in questionable taste for a game aimed at that demographic, such as "Infected private parts", "My brother must be going through puberty, because he spends most of his time ___", "Training bras", "The non-existent private parts of a Ken doll", and "The word 'balls'".
- Warhammer 40,000. In its home market of Britain, the game is (or at least was for a long time) primarily targeted at posh children and early teens. In the US, it is considered a very adult setting, with copious amounts of gore and Nightmare Fuel, dystopian nihilism, and heavily implied sexual themes as well (regarding the Dark Eldar and Slaanesh). Most American players are college students and adults. In fact, an announcement for a series of children's books based on the setting was met with derision among American fans. In continental Europe, Russia, and Canada, the game is marketed equally to both groups.
- There is a trading card game where monsters are summoned through a process heavily implied to be ritual sacrifice, frequent references are made to hell and demons (albeit bowdlerized), including the implication that the game's discard pile is hell, per the card effects of several of those demons, along with bloody violence depicted, often on the cards themselves, and no shortage of scantily-clad women on the art (albeit censored in some markets). The game is Yu-Gi-Oh!, and it's sold to American grade schoolers, even when it's aimed more at a teenage audience in its native Japan.
Theatre
- Cats is ostensibly meant for all audiences, what with it being about singing and dancing cats and the majority of the songs being a send-up of typical cat behaviors. However, the musical acknowledges that cats tend to be quite promiscuous - The Rum Tum Tugger's number utilizes a lot of blatant crotch thrusts, Victoria goes into heat during the ball, and during the big dance number in the middle of the musical, the cats pair up together as part of a heavily abstracted mating ritual that sees Victoria getting some heavy petting (no pun intended) from her chosen mate (usually either Plato or Mistoffolees/Quaxo). Also, Demeter is heavily implied to have been in an abusive relationship with Macavity in the past which has left her anxious and paranoid of his return. The 2019 film toned this aspect down somewhat.
- Depending on the incarnation, Starlight Express includes hate-motivated beatings, a Serial Killer villain, Domestic Abuse, marital infidelity, a young woman singing a solo about her favorite sexual experience, a retired prostitute, a character who maintains an equal-opportunity harem, an ocean's worth of sexual innuendo in general, and references to smoking, alcohol, and drugs. The show manages to get away with all these elements because the characters are anthropomorphic toy trains. The Las Vegas version of the musical, which featured the main female characters in showgirl costumes, actually wasn't intended for kids, but attracted family audiences regardless.
- "Junior" versions of musicals tend to skirt the edge of this; in addition to altering scores to match children's vocals and generally shortening them/cutting down on the number of songs to require less endurance, junior versions where the original isn't appropriate for children will often edit out some of the most objectionable. For example, the junior version of Legally Blonde cuts out many of the sexual references of the original, while the junior version of Once on This Island omits Ti Moune's suicide. Some people accept this, while others are skeptical or believe that the alterations don't go far enough.
Theme Parks
- BonBon-Land in Holme Olstrup, Denmark is supposed to be an average children's theme park, with roller coasters, water rides, and Funny Animals. However, a majority of it is based on extreme Toilet Humour that sometimes cross into Vulgar Humor territory, such as sculptures of a cow exposing her big bare (read: Nipple and Dimed averted) breasts and a seagull taking a dump into an alligator's mouth. (It might help to know the park was created by a candy manufacturer [hence the name], and "seagull droppings" is one of their brands. Then again, it might not.)
- TMNT Shellraiser, found at Nickelodeon Universe at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey. Considering it's themed after one of the world's biggest cartoon series, and it's under the license of children's network Nickelodeon, it was designed to be marketed specifically towards kids. Despite this, it's one of the most extreme roller coasters in the world, with it going from 0 to 62.1 mph in a span of only 2 seconds, and also holding the world record for the steepest drop on a roller coaster, having a beyond-vertical drop of 121.5°.
Toys
- Buzz Lightyear sippycup — so that's what "To infinity, AND BEYOND!" really means...
- Speaking of Mike Mozart, there's this Dora the Explorer-licenced AquaPet. It's rather... interestingly shaped.
- G.I. Joe as a whole gets this treatment, actually. Because it happened in the comics, there are those older viewers/readers who think that every TV show and movie—past, present, future, and otherwise—should use real bullets instead of (the Hasbro-mandated) lasers, and that there should be more onscreen deaths simply because of the military nature of the concept and toyline (which goes all the way back to the 1960s or 70s; i.e., before the "Real American Hero" era). Aside from the aforementioned Resolute, the closest the fans got to a version of Joe they wanted was probably the live-action movie series.
- For a short period of time, there were vibrating Harry Potter broomsticks in toy stores. Which were enjoyed fondly by... well... all ages, until it was brought to the companies attention that not everyone was riding the broom pretending to play Quidditch...
- Mike Mozart of Jeepers Media had some fun pointing out the issue of this toy here. Watch out for his awful British accent, though.
- Mike Mozart of Jeepers Media had some fun pointing out the issue of this toy here
- In 2004, Marvel Select released an action figure of Black Cat from Spider-Man, complete with huge, almost-exposed breasts. The age rating on the box? 7 and up.
- LEGO:
- The properties that LEGO chooses to adapt for the LEGO Adaptation Games and toys tend to skew towards PG-13 rated titles. Star Wars and Harry Potter are initially PG material (with the later, darker ones being PG-13) but we also have the Burton/Schumacher Batman films (all PG-13), the Pirates of the Caribbean films (likewise) and the Indiana Jones series (first two are PG, but only because PG-13 didn't exist, and The Temple of Doom was partially responsible for its creation).
- In 2015, LEGO released a set that passed the LEGO Ideas submission and approval process... based upon The Big Bang Theory. Merchandise for a sitcom filled to the brim with sex jokes is being sold in LEGO Stores alongside themes like Legends of Chima and Ninjago. You know, for kids!
- The base version of LEGO Dimensions has The Simpsons, an adult-oriented animated satirical sitcom known for innuendo and jokes pertaining to contemporary American politics, ethnic and national stereotypes, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, a Gorn-filled children's cartoon and annual Halloween specials, and copious references to adult media, given that Simpsons is the first modern American adult animated television show to achieve mainstream popularity and inspired numerous other such shows. Expansions for Dimensions include ones for PG-13-rated Mission: Impossible and innuendo-laden Ghostbusters. Agent Smith of R-rated The Matrix even appeared in The LEGO Batman Movie expansion!
- A Marvel Heroes set pits Deadpool and Magneto against Wolverine. While Magneto has had his share of violence in the comics, the release of R-rated, strip-club-featuring, innuendo-and-curse-soaked Deadpool and the equally gory and profane (not to mention tonally even darker) Logan makes this verge on Harsher in Hindsight.
- The 2005 BIONICLE set for Roodaka is pointed out by fans as leaning into Ms. Fanservice, due to the set's prominent breastplates, suggested buttocks using a curved claw piece, long legs, and her High-Heel Power. In the line's story she plays the role of The Baroness of the Visorak horde.
- While not a big deal back in the 1960s when they were made, post-modernism pretty much guarantees that these bad boys won't be seeing a revival anytime soon: Meet the Ding-a-Lings!
- Transformers scribe Simon Furman complained about this trope in regards to the dark Beast Machines.
- It should be noted just how much of Simon Furman's work fits into this category. When the writer of the bloodbath the Marvel Generation 2 comics became calls something too dark, you know you've taken Darker and Edgier too far.
- Furman was specifically concerned about the "For Kids" part of this trope. He was very much about darker, more fatal Transformers stories, but he was explicitly writing with an older audience in mind than the cartoon series are marketed towards.
- It's a bit understandable, though, if you look at the premise devoid of context: Two factions of a race of alien war machines come to Earth, their war has gone on so long that battling for the resources our planet can give them to continue the war effort is more important than the war itself. The weakest of them has enough power to slaughter dozens of human soldiers and come away with nothing more than a badly-scratched paint job. At best, their feelings towards us are paternalistic, and they look down with a combination of pity and admiration on those of our species who see it as their sworn duty to defend us from them. At worst, they find us repulsive and enjoy slaughtering us when they have a chance. It sure doesn't sound like the backstory of a kids' franchise... yet that's exactly what it is.
- Enter the cute and funny doll for kids, Baby Laugh A-Lot. And if that doesn't give your kids nightmares, the doll on a low battery can fix that. More generally, talking dolls tend to be creepier than their creators probably intended, especially when their batteries run down.
- The 1980s and 90s were simpler times with much more lax restrictions on what was considered "Child-friendly." To that end, Aliens, Predator, and RoboCop got toylines. You know, the shows with, respectively, face-raping alien scorpions, an evil alien safari hunter who skins people alive, and a man being shot 57 times while he screams in agony on-camera. Even gory slasher media have toy lines for children.
- Then there was the kid's cartoon, toy line and Star Comics comic title based around the Police Academy films. While the later installments were indeed Lighter and Softer and PG-rated around the time of Police Academy 3: Back In Training, the first film was VERY R-rated, and was basically a raunchy sex comedy set at the titular academy. Even with the Lighter and Softer, later installments still had their quota of adult humor.note
Visual Novels
- Long Live the Queen: The developer's website recommends the game for ages 13 and up. It also features incest, decapitation, tyranny, genocide, sexual slavery, and complex political decision-making.
- Tokimeki Memorial has brief nudity. Despite this, this game is still rated a CERO A (all ages).
Web Animation
- Battle for Dream Island: Despite being a show targeted towards children, there is a lot of Family-Unfriendly Violence (albeit bloodless). Many of the episodes deal upon subjects kids are less likely to understand. After BFB 1 had its comments removed due to COPPA (fortunately, they are back), Cary states that the series is for both kids, and older fans to enjoy.
- The rather infamous Cat Pack Tales tried to fit with the new PAW Patrol fans, but it has some of the characters swearing (although it was censored), and having inflation fetish in some episodes.
- God's Gang's use of religious/ethnic stereotypes and racial humor can make it easy to mistake for a Subverted Kids' Show adult cartoon at first glance.
- The Rodfellows: The show's creators intend this show to be something for kids, yet its fetish nature, like big bellies, is apparent.
- Sonic × Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings: Sometime after release, the official uploads were labelled as "made for kids" by YouTube's algorithm, despite the animation (the first episode especially) containing kid-unfriendly subjects, like Shadow reliving his worst memories and a vision of Maria visibly getting shot in the heart by G.U.N. troops.
- Starshine Carly was supposed to be family friendly, but this channel had a little bit of swearing, animal abuse, stereotypes, violence, death, and more.
Webcomics
- Word of God has it that Assigned Male is aimed at kids. There's enough talk about genitalia to make any age uncomfortable, sex and politics are discussed, and characters swear in plain sight. All of this is simply because those things are part of life and make sense in context, but it's still a bit odd.
- The creator of Liltoon once had an on-site notice stating that his comic is suitable for readers aged 10 and up, but the "Flushing the Soul" arc seems to belie that.
- Schlock Mercenary: In-universe with the Schlock Mercenary cartoon. It's marketed at kids—complete with toys and coloring books—but is still based on the violent exploits of mercenaries.
Tagon: For as tiny as they made me look, I sure bleed a lot.
Brad: I thought we sold the story rights to a family channel. - Sonichu is ostensibly intended to be a children's comic, aimed for kids between the ages of 7 and 14...but that certainly doesn't stop its author from inserting scenes of bloody, brutal violence (up to and including a scene of a young girl mutilating a defenseless criminal with a pair of giant drills) and (supposedly) titillating sex (with an entire chapter dedicated to showing off the main characters' sexual anatomy).
- The original Sonic the Comic was perfectly kid-friendly. The unofficial continuation Sonic the Comic – Online! is mostly on the same level, however, one arc is infamously dark. Stuck in the past with no modern technology, Tekno starts to have a mental breakdown. It ends with beating a villain to death. The fan outrage was very loud due to considering it overly dark and out of character. Eventually they retconned that Set survived the injuries, but that doesn't lessen the tone by much.
- Draconia Chronicles has an In-Universe example, wherein a character watches an episode of the local My Little Phony with her girlfriend and her girlfriend's kids. The episode ends with the villain getting beaten to death onscreen, to which she muses "Isn't this a little violent for a kids show?" She is promptly shushed by the kids.
- Anecdote of Error treats its subject matter very seriously. Said subject matter includes bodily dismemberment, Fantastic Racism, a brutal war in which both sides are awful, and scenes of utter horror. The reader would be highly unlikely to come to the conclusion that children are the target audience, but the comic's creator started publishing it while still a teenager, making it this trope by default.
- Happens In-Universe in Ennui GO!:
- Max and his friends frequently watch a show called The Jimmies, which is ostensibly for kids. However, the characters frequently discuss kid-unfriendly topics such as nihilism and drugs, have parodied rather adult shows, and at one point shilled an anti-erectile dysfuntion pill complete with horrifying side effects. It gets to the point that Max and Cricket outright wonder if the show's messing up their development.
- Pro Sass Fishing is a kid-oriented cartoon that's also a spin-off of an extremely NSFW game, starring a bunch of perpetually naked fish women (though the cartoon at least gives them Barbie Doll Anatomy). Additionally, at least one strip implies that the cartoon has some more mature and deep plots than you'd expect from a kids' show.
- "Children's Programming" has a parody of Peppa Pig that apparently aired episodes about the Daddy Pig counterpart's past as a war criminal, yet is still meant for toddlers.
Other
- Bubblegum/candy cigarettes — and also, licorice pipes, chocolate cigars, candy cigarettes, and the infamous "Hippy Sippy". Aside from the last item, these are still sold today (although often with bowdlerised names like "candy sticks"). Even a few of the most ardent anti-smokers still feel a little pang of nostalgia for these and feel kind of torn at the idea of taking them off the market.
- One of 4chan's raids invoked this audience reaction. 4chan members uploaded a bunch of porn videos to YouTube disguised as kid-friendly stuff like LazyTown, The Jonas Brothers, and Miley Cyrus (back when the Jonas Brothers and Cyrus were kid-friendly), so kids would watch the videos and get quite a nasty shock. One user responded with the now-famous phrase, "I'm 12 years old and what is this?"
- During the russefeiring, most participants make personalized calling cards that are frequently handed out to children. This despite the fact that many of them feature jokes that are blatantly about sex or alcohol.
- Several Halloween costumes that many parents would not want little kids to be wearing.
- Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. Hope the kid with the Jason costume doesn't role play with his mom who bought him it.
- Chucky the murdering doll
- Michael Myers from Halloween. Insert joke about how the new Michael Myers has mommy issues.
- And any number of "sexy" [fill in the blank] costumes marketed towards and sized for preteen girls.
- Or infant-sized Pimp Duds.
- Freddy Krueger
A faaaamily- oh who are we kidding- a PSYCHO picture!