ASA Adjudication on Home Office/Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)

Ad

A radio ad for a Home Office/Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) website called thinkuknow.co.uk was broadcast at the end of March on 96 Trent FM. The website contained information on how children could stay safe online. It claimed "What you say online isn't always what a paedophile hears. Giving out personal info could let a paedophile track you down. Be smart online, be safe offline. Visit thinkuknow.co.uk".

Issue

A listener said when she visited the website she thought was quoted, "thinkyouknow.co.uk", she found it contained links to websites of an adult nature including pornography websites.

Response

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) said they had only recently taken over the campaign from the Home Office and had no involvement with the ad.  Nonetheless, they said they were aware of the potential for misspelling the website domain name if promoting it in audio only, but believed teenagers were accustomed to using abbreviations, such as "u", when communicating with each other via text and email.   They said that the inappropriate material on the other website was at least four clicks away from the homepage, and CEOP believed that any user would be aware, by that point, that it was not a site about child protection on the internet.  

GCap Media responded on behalf of 96 Trent FM.  They said the campaign ran until 2 April but on 13 March they had been made aware that the ad could direct listeners towards a site with links to adult websites.  GCap Media said they stopped broadcasting the ad on 96 Trent FM and several other stations and made the RACC, the production house, the Home Office and RKCR aware of the problem.  After consultation with the buying agency, a decision was made by GCap Media to put the ad back on 96 Trent FM, although not during breakfast broadcasting.  GCap Media confirmed that the ad was not amended and said they had received no instructions to remove the ad from broadcast after it returned to air.

The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) said they had cleared the ad in good faith and had no reason to believe the website name might cause confusion.  They said after they had been notified by a radio station that there was a problem with the ad, they brought it to the attention of RKCR, who assured them it would be taken off air on 19 March.  Because they had been given that assurance, they considered no further action was necessary.  They did not know why the ad continued to be broadcast after that date. The RACC said that, although it was unfortunate that a listener had typed "you" instead of "u", they believed that "a significant effect" of the ad was not to publicise indirectly an unacceptable product, namely, "restricted ... material and other sexual services" as defined in Appendix 3(e) of the Code.  They said the "significant effect" of the ad had been to highlight to teenagers the dangers of online chatrooms and to advise them not to meet those they chatted to online.  

RKCR said that, due to a misunderstanding between themselves and the media buyers, they initially thought the ad was due to end on 19 March whereas it was scheduled until 2 April.  They apologised for giving the wrong information to the RACC and said they had taken steps to avoid similar errors in the future.

Assessment

Complaint upheld

The ASA noted the ad had not spelt out the website address in full to listeners and if typed as "thinkyouknow" instead of "thinkuknow" would direct listeners to a website with links to adult material.  This was particularly concerning as the ad was aimed at teenagers and the service being promoted was to help them stay safe online.  We were extremely concerned that, although the RACC had been assured by RKCR that the ad had been taken off air, it continued to be broadcast despite GCap Media, RKCR and the Home Office/CEOP being aware of the possibility of confusion.  

Although we recognised that there was no intention, we considered that a significant effect of the ad had been to indirectly publicise services which were unacceptable for broadcast; namely restricted adult material and other sexual services.  

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code Appendix 3 (a) & (e) (Prohibited categories - indirect promotion).

Action

The ad should not be broadcast again in its current form and care should be taken to ensure listeners are aware of the correct spelling of the website address should it be used in future radio advertising.