ASA Adjudication on Care International UK

Ad

A TV ad, for a charity appeal, showed on-screen text which stated "Children on the Edge. £2 a month appeal. 0800 157XX XX". The voice-over stated "Who cares about children on the very edge of survival?" The ad then showed separate close ups of the faces of three children who seemed to be ill or severely malnourished. On-screen text repeated the phrase "Who cares?" while the voice-over continued "Homeless and alone, an orphan of war. Who cares enough to find her somewhere safe? Who cares? He hasn't eaten for days. Who cares where his next meal is coming from? Who cares? She's sick but there's no-one to look after her. Who cares enough to help, or even hold her? These are some of the most desperate children in the world, whose every waking moment is focused on just staying alive. Someone has to be there. Someone has to care. We care". On-screen text repeated "Children on the edge. £2 a month appeal. Call 0800 157XX XX" and the voice-over stated "If you care too please call us now on 0800 157 XXXX and give £2 a month. Care International helps over 50 million of the world’s most vulnerable people every year. We don't just save children's lives, but give them and their communities a more secure future". More images of vulnerable children and babies were shown while on-screen text stated "£2 a month for life-saving food, medicine, shelter, care". The voice-over continued "Your £2 a month will help us reach the world's neediest children, give them their first food in days, urgent medical help, a safe place to sleep, the comforting arm of someone who cares". The ad showed one of the children looking into the camera and beginning to smile. One-screen text repeated the phone number with the phrase "Don't delay" while the voice-over said "Please help us give these children a more secure future. Call Care now on 0800 057XX XX”. The ad showed a final image of a child looking imploringly into the camera. The voice-over said “These children are on the very edge of survival. Please don't delay".

Issue

Five members of the public, who saw the ad on "Boomerang" and "Cartoon Network" channels, objected that the ad was inappropriate for broadcast on dedicated childrens channels, because it was likely to cause distress to children.

BCAP TV Code

BCAP TV Scheduling Code

Response

Care International Ltd (Care International) said they constantly had to weigh up their duty to their beneficiaries to raise funds as cost effectively as possible against the possibility that some people would be offended by the content of their ads. They said many other overseas development charities with similar ads already advertised on these dedicated children's channels and they had become the first and third most successful channels in terms of return on investment.

Turner Broadcasting (Boomerang and Cartoon Network) said the ad had been cleared by Clearcast without any scheduling restriction. They explained that Clearcast had later revised their comments on the ad to recommend that broadcasters consider the suitability of the ad for broadcast on their channels. They did not give their reasoning for the decision to broadcast the ad on their dedicated childrens channels.

Clearcast did not believe the commercial warranted a timing restriction and said that although there were scenes showing distressed children, there was nothing in the ad that was likely to cause harm or offence. They explained that, as a result of queries from several stations regarding the suitability for broadcast on dedicated children's channels, they added a presentation code which stated "Broadcasters may wish to view this advertisement to determine its acceptability for transmission in programmes appealing to children under 9 years. Distressing scenes".

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA acknowledged that some young children might find the subject matter upsetting but noted, although the images and voice-over were about serious issues and showed images of children in distress, the ad did not use shocking claims or images merely to attract attention; it made clear the issue was serious but action that could be taken to prevent it. We noted the target audience for the ad was parents who might be watching with their children but nevertheless considered that the content of the ad, although upsetting, was unlikely to harm young viewers even if watching alone, We concluded that the ad was acceptable for broadcast on dedicated childrens channels.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Code rules 7.4.1, 7.4.6 and 7.4.7 (Children) and CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Scheduling Code rule 4.2.3 (Treatments unsuitable for children) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)