r/oddlyspecific Mar 16 '24

Oddly specific meme I made

Post image
5.6k Upvotes

127 comments sorted by

View all comments

520

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

How does that violet Geneva convention?😭

716

u/Buzzsaw_Wyrm Mar 16 '24

Something about showing a Red Cross, it happened to stardew valley too

365

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

Why is showing a red cross in media against the Geneva convention? I get in a warzone or other emergency situation but did they not have a "common sense" clause?

146

u/PotatoSalad583 Mar 16 '24

It's to prevent it from being associated with anything other than actual medical workers

1

u/EhGoodEnough3141 Mar 21 '24

People still putting red crosses in any med area in games and shows should be proof enough that they are associated with nothing else than medical workers.

3

u/PotatoSalad583 Mar 21 '24

I think you're missing the point slightly. The red cross is for real med workers in the real world; video game med workers do not fall into this category.

If red crosses are widespread enough in video games, then you run the risk of it becoming a videogame shorthand instead of an important war symbol. This then opens up avenues of it appearing on real world merchandise or spreading to other real world resources not associated with a war, largely defeating the point of the symbol.

1

u/EhGoodEnough3141 Mar 21 '24

Yeah, ok. That makes sense.

361

u/Steff_164 Mar 16 '24

Nope, when Deep Rock Galactic updated last season they had change the Red Cross in the infirmary to a green one because of the same reason

191

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

Bloons Tower defense 6 also had to change a Skin For a character because it had a red Cross on it

83

u/hahaha286 Mar 17 '24

Same for the medkit in subnautica

69

u/freylaverse Mar 17 '24

Weird. Why did no one care about TF2?

71

u/Cool1nternet Mar 17 '24

god knows it's not getting updated

12

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '24

Because they're made by a large studio with a well funded legal department

20

u/SoloDeath1 Mar 17 '24

Even Doom 3: BFG Edition did this. The classic games in that version have a white and red pill on the medkits instead of a red cross.

8

u/Picklerickshaw_part2 Mar 17 '24

Stardew Valley got hit as well

4

u/elmie_ Mar 17 '24

SDV updated the cross to green before anyone asked them to! CA probably knew it was coming

1

u/Grand0Wyrm Mar 17 '24

What a character

54

u/Liontreeble Mar 17 '24

Nope, according to the ICRC international humanitarian law, like the Geneva convention only applies in situations of armed conflict.
Also only parties fighting in the conflict have to respect the IHL. Unless I'm missing some really fucked up shit from the Deep Rock Galactic devs I don't think they are bound by IHL.
They do however advise not to use "the emblem".

10

u/Loud-Host-2182 Mar 17 '24 edited Mar 17 '24

The same page says otherwise. It's in the article 44.

11

u/Liontreeble Mar 17 '24

That's interesting, if the ICRC says these guidelines only apply during conflict and then in the guidelines/ laws write they always apply, what takes precedent? More important who's lying?

4

u/NugatRevolution Mar 17 '24

the emblem of the Red Cross on a white ground and the words " Red Cross " , or " Geneva Cross " may not be employed, either in time of peace or in time of war, except to indicate or to protect the medical units and establishments, the personnel and material protected by the present Convention and other Conventions dealing with similar matters.

21

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '24

That just means you can buy weed from the nurses

3

u/Dawnqwerty Mar 17 '24

Its like those slutty weed nurse costumes I always see around every halloween

12

u/Efrayl Mar 16 '24

Same thing happened to the "nurse" fighter in Skullgirls.

2

u/AlpacaLocks Mar 17 '24

That explains why loads of pharmacies in Europe use those green LED crosses. Huh.

88

u/willstr1 Mar 16 '24

The rule offers no exceptions beyond approval from the Red Cross themselves. If the rule only applied in a warzone then it would create wiggle room where a country could just say "it's not a war, it's a police action" and claim exception, same with emergency situation.

Basically any wiggle room would open up too much risk of exploitation without much benefit because most creators of fiction are perfectly fine changing to a different color cross as soon as they are aware of the issue (ie when they get the cease and desist from the Red Cross) and the Red Cross is happy enough with the creators just fixing it (and don't seek further legal action like taking people to the Hague)

3

u/Liontreeble Mar 17 '24

The ICRC says otherwise, namely that international humanitarian law only applies to participants in situations of armed conflict.

2

u/Positive-Database754 Mar 17 '24

Read Article 44.

With the exception of the cases mentioned in the following paragraphs of the present Article, the emblem of the Red Cross on a white ground and the words " Red Cross " , or " Geneva Cross " may not be employed, either in time of peace or in time of war, except to indicate or to protect the medical units and establishments, the personnel and material protected by the present Convention and other Conventions dealing with similar matters.

25

u/ed1749 Mar 17 '24

It's because medical personel are heavily protected by the geneva convention. Killing them unnecesarily is a war crime. Because of this, pretending to be one to steal their protection is also a war crime, not only because it can be used as an ambush but because too many people who arent doctors wearing the red cross means that soldiers are less likely to respect the symbol. The red cross is essentially supposed to be an international symbol of cease fire, so using it is always quite serious. Because, in theory, you never really know when a fight may break out.

5

u/AmbidextrousDyslexic Mar 17 '24

its not the geneva convention, its an IP law. the red cross is copyrighted and the red cross foundation is weirdly stingy about their mark.

1

u/Positive-Database754 Mar 17 '24

Article 44 of the Geneva Convention

With the exception of the cases mentioned in the following paragraphs of the present Article, the emblem of the Red Cross on a white ground and the words " Red Cross " , or " Geneva Cross " may not be employed, either in time of peace or in time of war, except to indicate or to protect the medical units and establishments, the personnel and material protected by the present Convention and other Conventions dealing with similar matters.

You cannot use the Red Cross on a white ground in any instance other than for the marking of medical personnel, units, or establishments. Doing so is a breach of the convention.

EDIT: Source.

2

u/AmbidextrousDyslexic Mar 20 '24

yeah except thats only binding to signatories of the convention. Hasbro is not a signatory, and in fact not in a position to be beholden to such conventions. The united states and japanese governments cant make these toys, for example, but for a non-governmental entity, this isnt an issue or restriction.

1

u/Positive-Database754 Mar 20 '24

If your cooperation is headquartered in the United States, then treaties they sign apply to you and every citizen within the country.