According to a study reported on in the globeandmail.com, children hate clowns. Even older ones. It found that:

“clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable.”

I think this may be an exaggeration, but I think there is alot more too it than adults realize. Perhaps a few generations from now, people will look back and think: wow! There were clowns back then! 🙂