SpongeBob slated for lack of morals

A school principal has condemned SpongeBob SquarePants for a "lack of propriety and moral awareness" and is urging parents to censor what their children watch.

The episode that upset Geoff Burgess, principal of St Kentigern School in Remuera, saw SpongeBob and friends on an adventure which took them to one of their mother's underwear drawers.

"I had barely been square-eyed for 10 minutes when this vacuous creation and some of his nebulous mates were indulging in voyeurism courtesy of the lingerie drawers belonging to one of their mothers," Mr Burgess wrote in his latest school newsletter.

He said much of children's entertainment would be appreciated as fantasy, but SpongeBob's actions could easily find their way into the play of young children.

Mr Burgess said he had been brought up on Flash Gordon and had never fired rockets at enemies, but "drawers of underwear are much more accessible objects of attention than hi-tech rocket ships".

Naive SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the Pacific Ocean and his adventures are screened on TV2 at 4.30pm on week days. A movie version of the series has been made and Mr Burgess was planning to see it, but said he decided to watch a television episode first.

"SpongeBob SquarePants sounds innocuous enough, suggesting benign conservatism, but his external attributes have no relationship with his character."

SpongeBob had lost a fan because producers lacked a sense of propriety and moral awareness, Mr Burgess said.

"I recommend that you watch what your children watch and be unafraid to exercise your rights of censorship."

Mr Burgess told the Herald he had seen only one episode but felt "delving into Mum's knicker drawer" was not a model of behaviour to put in front of children.

His newsletter comments were intended as humorous but with a serious message about checking what children were watching.

"I'm not easily offended and am broadminded. As a family we watch The Simpsons," Mr Burgess said.

TV2 publicist Nicole Schipper said yesterday the station had never received a complaint about SpongeBob.

The cartoon was popular and had a cult following, regularly claiming a quarter of the viewing figures in its time slot, she said.

But it is not the first time the "wacky" yellow character has been criticised. Conservative Christian groups in the US claimed SpongeBob and friend Patrick Starfish were gay.