Ad description
A cinema ad for the vegan charity Viva!, seen in March and April 2025, featured a woman placing her sleeping baby in a cot while a lullaby played. After switching off a lamp, she turned around to see the baby in the cot. A silhouetted figure suddenly appeared standing over the cot and the room went dark. The woman switched on a light to reveal a man in a suit running a bottle of milk across the bars of the cot, which was now empty. The woman gasped and asked, “What have you done with my baby?” The man smiled, revealing misshapen, discoloured teeth, and replied in a low, gravelly voice, “You can’t keep your baby because we want your milk.” The woman’s scream was cut off and the screen went black. The next scene showed a calf in a pen. The voiceover stated, “Almost every dairy calf is taken from their mother shortly after birth so most of her milk can be sold to us. And what do you think happens to thousands of male babies like this one?” The words “Dairy is Scary” and the Viva! logo appeared on a black screen accompanied by a loud, metallic noise and the sound of something falling to the floor.
Issue
The ASA received 25 complaints, including one from The Dairy Council of Northern Ireland.
The complainants challenged whether the ad was irresponsible, distressing, especially to those that had lost a child, and likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
Response
Viva! said they aimed to raise awareness of standard practices in the dairy industry, particularly the removal of calves from their mothers shortly after birth. The ad was based on factual information and was intended to inform and encourage ethical choices, not to shock. They cited a survey which found that 59% of respondents did not know that cows must give birth in order to produce milk.
Viva! said the ad used metaphor and cinematic techniques, rather than graphic imagery, to draw a symbolic comparison between human and animal separation. The character of the “bogeyman” was a dramatic device used to prompt empathy. They said it was not intended to trivialise human grief or cause distress to those who had experienced child loss.
They explained that, although the ad was deemed suitable for audiences over the age of 15, it was mainly shown alongside horror, sci-fi and thriller films, where viewers would typically expect intense or disturbing content. They believed that while the ad may have made some viewers uncomfortable, that did not amount to a breach of the Code.
The Cinema Advertising Association (CAA) confirmed that the ad carried an age restriction for 15-rated films and above. They said they had received six direct complaints. Due to Viva!’s registered charity status the ad was also classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) under their own guidelines and was issued a “15” certificate.
The CAA said their panel considered the ad was likely to distress some viewers, particularly younger audiences. However, they believed the use of horror tropes, such as the shadowy figure by the cot, was within the guidelines for the equivalent film age rating and comparable to content found in horror films.
They said the ad used metaphor to make an emotional connection with the audience and was restrained in tone. The brief distress shown by the mother was clearly intended as an analogy for the separation of calves from their mothers. The baby was not shown being touched or taken from the mother by the shadowy figure, nor was it portrayed as being in distress. While they acknowledged that some viewers might be affected by the appearance of the “bogeyman” and that those with personal experience of infant loss might find the imagery distressing, they believed that did not override Viva!’s right to communicate their message.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers, and must not cause serious or widespread offence, fear or distress without justifiable reason. The fear or distress should not be excessive, and marketers must not use a shocking claim or image merely to attract attention.
The ad, which drew on conventions of horror films, was classified as suitable for audiences aged 15+ and appeared in cinemas. The ASA acknowledged that it was surreal and stylised in tone and did not feature graphic imagery. We understood that the approach was intended to encourage viewers to draw a direct emotional parallel between the separation of calves from their mothers and the imagined loss of a human baby. We considered, however, that while viewers would understand that the ad aimed to raise awareness of animal welfare, the nature of that comparison was likely to be seen as insensitive by many and in particular by those with experience of loss or trauma around parenthood.
The domestic scene of a mother putting her baby to bed abruptly changed with the arrival of a menacing “bogeyman” figure standing over the baby’s cot, and the baby’s subsequent disappearance. We considered that the bogeyman character created a strong sense of unease and threat. Although the ad did not depict the baby being harmed, and it was not shown being physically removed, we considered that its disappearance was likely to be seen as shocking and unsettling. We further considered that the statement “You can’t keep your baby”, in combination with the sudden disappearance of the baby, was likely to be particularly upsetting for viewers with experience of child loss or fertility issues, in particular because the parallel with dairy industry practices was revealed only in the latter half of the ad. We considered that the late reveal, in combination with the unsettling imagery, was likely to increase the emotional impact and amplify distress. We considered that the message of the ad did not justify the distress likely to be caused by the approach, in particular to vulnerable audiences.
For those reasons, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause unjustified distress and serious and widespread offence.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility), and 4.1 and 4.2 (Harm and offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told Viva! to ensure that future ads were prepared responsibly and did not contain content that was likely to cause serious or widespread offence or unjustified distress to viewers.
