Scary Clowns
In some of the reading I've been doing on health-care aesthetics, one article favorably cited various programs that bring artists and entertainers--specifically clowns--into hospitals to cheer up patients. Clowns? The last thing I want if I'm hospital is an annoying clown trying to "entertain" me. Apparently British kids agree. Reuters reports that in a survey of 250 patients ages 4 to 16, ALL of them said they "disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary." (Duh.) "We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable," says a researcher.
UPDATE: These people need to get a clue.