History Main / ContentWarnings

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* ''Creator/Cs188'''s later YouTubePoop videos feature such a warning PlayedForLaughs, accompanied by a sentence-mixed Music/BrunoMars.

* When [[WeInterruptThisProgram a news broadcast interrupts a children's program]], it's common for the anchors or announcer to advise the children watching to ask their parents to come in the room to watch with them. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NRC_lp_a2U Here's an example from a Fox station]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH4vrq7ZIYQ another from a ABC News Special Report on Hurricane Charley]]. Conversely, it's also not unheard of for news anchors to tell caretakers of young children to usher the little ones out of the room before beginning to deliver potentially upsetting news about favorite children's entertainment characters or personalities.

* The Music/{{Styx}} album ''Music/KilroyWasHere'' was originally issued with a sticker whose text began: "By order of the [[CulturePolice Majority for Musical Morality]], this album contains secret backwards messages and the songs..."

* Website/{{Crunchyroll}} added content warnings to ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'' after they accidentally mislabeled the first episode as TV-PG on VRV and received complaints. Only [[RRatedOpening the first episode]] ''really'' needs it, since the sexual violence and {{gorn}} are significantly toned down (although still present) afterwards. Amusingly, it even shows up on {{Breather Episode}}s with little if any violence.

* The HD ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' Trilogy Remaster features disclaimers about changes in cultural sensitivity before [[VideoGame/TombRaiderI each]] [[VideoGame/TombRaiderII included]] [[VideoGame/TombRaiderIII game.]]

Content warnings are often given in conjunction with a [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications ratings system]] as an explanation of why a given work has the rating it does. In most cases, these are selected from a list of stock warnings (''e.g.'' "strong language", "violence", "imitable behavior", or the very general "viewer discretion advised") -- these don't really provide much of an explanation. A warning specific to the work shows that the work itself is fairly controversial or otherwise unusual.

See also UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications and UsefulNotes/{{Trigger}}, as well as OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope, DontTryThisAtHome, DoNotAttempt, ThisIsAWorkOfFiction, and {{NSFW}}. Compare RRatedOpening.

* Reprints of Creator/DCComics issues from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks sometimes will have a small disclaimer underneath the first page of the comic, letting readers know that the story being presented contains racial and other stereotypes that were acceptable at the time, are not now, but are being left unedited for historical purposes.

* During the first several years of the 1930s, when UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode was not yet being strictly enforced but still had to be taken seriously, movies would often be preceded by what many film historians have come to call an "exculpatory preface." This was basically a disclaimer that appeared at the beginning of, for example, gangster films, the sociopolitical melodrama ''Cabin in the Cotton'', and (perhaps most famously of all) the horror film ''Film/{{Freaks}}''. Generally speaking, the basic message of the exculpatory preface was something like this: "This film depicts a political or sociological point of view that we, the filmmakers, do not endorse -- or maybe we ''do'' endorse, but [[BlatantLies we're denying we're doing so in order to avoid controversy]]." The Hays Office generally tolerated these, but the prefaces weren't fooling anybody.

* On WWE [=DVDs=], all of the trailers before the main menu are skippable -- [[UsefulNotes/UserOperationProhibitFlag except]] for the mildly graphic one that shows the end result of any number of in-ring injuries, with the stern request to "Please ''do not'' try this at home".

* Creator/{{Sega}} preceded the ESRB with its own ratings board, the Videogame Ratings Council, with the available ratings being GA for General Audiences, and MA-13 and MA-17 for Mature Audiences at or over those respective ages. Even after the ESRB formed and made the VRC redundant, they created a special "Deep Water" rating for games with a definitive adult theme. Only three games ever got this rating, in addition to the normal ESRB rating: ''VideoGame/EternalChampions: Challenge from the Dark Side'', ''VideoGame/XPerts'', and the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn port of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D''.

** The author created a handful of "[[http://www.mabsland.com/Adoption.html Censorship Pandas]]", which are basically [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications furry-themed age rating icons]].

* In general, many authors use content warnings in the beginning of their work, with websites such as [=Ao3=] utilizing the warnings and tagging system to make it easier to see what a work contains.

* While Creator/SaoirseParisa has stated she refuses to use trigger warnings on principle, believing that they insult the reader's intelligence, several chapters of her works use general content warnings if she feels it is necessary.

* Content warnings are toggleable in ''VideoGame/ChicoryAColorfulTale''. Usually, they'll be noted before specific story scenes when they're on, mentioning potentially triggering subjects and even allowing the player to skip them. In chapter 5, the game even asks if you're ''sure'' you want to see a scene that's particularly heavy.

-->-- '''Standard content warnings on ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' comic pages'''

* While the ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'' pilot, "[[Recap/HazbinHotelS1E0ThatsEntertainment That's Entertainment]]", only has the content warning in its description ("Be warned, this project is aimed at older audiences. Badwords and Innuendo galore!!") to [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids deter children]], the beginning of its music video "Music/{{Addict}}" begins with a flat-out content warning for the same purpose:
--> '''WARNING'''\\

* While the ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'' pilot, "That's Entertainment", only has the content warning in its description ("Be warned, this project is aimed at older audiences. Badwords and Innuendo galore!!") to [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids deter children]], the beginning of its music video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulfeM8JGq7s "Addict"]] begins with a flat-out content warning for the same purpose:
--> '''WARNING'''\\
This video contains graphic language, adult content, [[EpilepticFlashingLights flashing lights]], depictions of [[RapeAsDrama sexual assault]], abuse, and addiction.\\
This content is intended for mature audiences only ('''18+''')\\
Viewer discretion advised.

* In ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'', topics containing either extreme violence or graphic sex are expected to be given content warnings. This usually just results in more people reading it. In later years handlers have started posting more conventional trigger warnings for things like mental health problems, depictions of suicide, abuse, and so on.

—> "Caution: This work contains depictions of excessive violence and grotesque imagery. For those who dislike such content or have a weak heart, please be advised."