I'm not clowning around, pull those posters down

A fear of clowns is not uncommon and was exploited in the Stephen King film It.

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There has been some clowning around inside the Department of Labour – but no one's laughing.

The department's social committee decided this year's Christmas party would have a circus carnival theme and put up advertising posters depicting a clown.

A female staff member who suffers coulrophobia, or fear of clowns, was not amused. She said she could not bear to look at the posters and asked that they be removed and replaced with a new design.

When her request was initially declined she took matters into her own hands and put Post-it stickers over the eyes and face of the clown. After other staff members removed the stickers she took her complaint to a supervisor.

The department's acting head of corporate, Ben Bush, confirmed the incident. "A staff member raised concerns with the social committee about the theme of this year's end-of-year function and asked if there were other posters which could be used to advertise the event.

"The social committee acted professionally and promptly in replying to the staff member, and pointed out that it was never its intention to offend anyone with the poster. Due to time and budget constraints it was not possible to redesign the poster, but, in recognition of the staff member's concerns, all posters advertising the function have now been removed from the floor where she works."

One employee described the incident as "just another day" at the department.

In September, the Star-Times revealed that one of the department's senior public servants was given permission to set up a temporary creche in the office for her baby, upsetting junior staff who felt obliged to tend the three-month-old when she was busy or out of the office.

Coulrophobia afflicts children and adults. Experts say the fear can be triggered by a bad experience with a clown, or even watching a horror movie featuring a clown.

New Zealand's Phobic Trust founder and chief executive Marcia Read said phobias affected 25 percent of the population, and could be extremely distressing.

"If a person is phobic of people or clowns and they see clowns all around them, everywhere they go, then they're not going to go out the door, are they?

"A clown phobia is no different from any other phobia..."

Read said the social stigma for those who suffer phobias was part of the problem. "It's shameful that a person with a phobic disorder cannot say `look, I can't go into lifts or I can't go flying', because they are frightened of people criticising them.

"The stigma is enormous. These people suffer in silence."

Phobic Trust has two clinics, in Auckland and Wellington. Anyone with a phobia or anxiety disorder can call the organisation's 24-hour help line on

0800 14 ANXIETY or 0800 14 269-4389.