ASA Adjudication on Barnardos

Ad

A TV ad for Barnardo's showed a teenage girl who told how she ran away from home and ended up taking drugs and being sexually exploited. She said "Then some people found me. They were from Barnardo's". The ad then described how she had received medical help and counselling and been able to return home.

Issue

A viewer challenged whether the ad was misleading and misrepresented Barnardo's role by suggesting they acted as a child protection agency at the initial intervention stage in cases of child abuse.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Barnardo's said the voice-over "Then some people found me. They were from Barnardo's" referred to their voluntary outreach work and did not refer to or show them as a statutory child protection agency at the initial intervention stage in cases of child abuse. They said their outreach work included services that young people could visit to receive help and support and night-time street visits to locate young people at risk or being exploited. Their visits targeted parks, bed and breakfasts, temporary accommodation and unsupported houses which, in Barnardos's experience, were all places where vulnerable children and young people in need of help were found. There were a number of such teams across the UK and they followed local and national policies for child protection. In a case like the girl featured in the ad, for instance, once they had found and talked to her, they would make an immediate referral to child protection services and the police. They said this aspect of their work had been widely publicised and was well known of by the public.

Clearcast endorsed Barnardos's response. They did not accept that the ad was capable of misleading viewers. They considered Barnardo's would be very well recognised by viewers as a charity that provided care and support for vulnerable children but which was not a child protection agency. They said the story shown in the ad was typical of some of the work Barnardo's carried out.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted that, unlike local authority social services departments, Barnardos's outreach work did not take place in every area of the UK. We considered, however, that the story shown in the ad was representative of Barnardos's outreach work in the areas where it did take place. We considered the ad suggested that this was the kind of situation in which Barnardo's worked but that it did not suggest that they acted as a child protection agency at the initial intervention stage in cases of child abuse (in the place of social workers or police officers, for instance). Because of that, we concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead viewers.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standard Code rules 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 (Misleading advertising) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)