'Offensive' Barnardo's advert draws complaints

From The Independent Online. By Graham Hiscott

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/offensive-barnardos-advert-draws-complaints-735580.html

Thursday, 13 November 2003

Dozens of people complained yesterday to the advertising watchdog about a hard-hitting new campaign for the children's charity Barnardo's.

The first in the series of newspaper advertisements from Barnardo's shows a new-born baby with a cockroach crawling out of his mouth.

More than 60 people contacted the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) through its website by lunchtime.

Another ad in the campaign features a baby with a methylated spirits bottle in its mouth. A third shows a baby with a syringe. The headline says: "There are no silver spoons for children born into poverty."

An ASA spokeswoman said the complaints received so far were on the grounds that the adverts were "offensive".

The campaign is designed to highlight the fact that babies born into poverty are more likely to grow up to be addicted to alcohol and drugs, become victims and perpetrators of crime and to be homeless.

Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions show one in three children in Britain lives in a family which survives below the poverty line of £242 a week.

Andrew Nebel, the director of marketing and communications at Barnardo's, defended the adverts. He said: "They are deliberately attention-seeking. We deal in shocking issues so if we talk about our work it is going to be seen as controversial.

"That means breaking through some of the complacency when it comes to child poverty because large numbers of people don't know it exists at the level it does."

Cockroach advert banned by industry watchdog wins place in year's top 10

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/cockroach-advert-banned-by-industry-watchdog-wins-place-in-years-top-10-578123.html

By Terry Kirby, Chief Reporter
Wednesday, 31 December 2003

An advertising campaign for Barnardo's which was banned by watchdogs has been voted among the best this year by the industry.

An advertising campaign for Barnardo's which was banned by watchdogs has been voted among the best this year by the industry.

The adverts for the children's charity, which included a computer-generated photograph of a newborn baby with a cockroach crawling out of his mouth, provoked 466 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) - the highest number this year.

The authority upheld the complaints, saying the pre-Christmas campaign could "cause serious or widespread offence". Barnardo's was ordered not to repeat the adverts.

Now Campaign magazine has voted the campaign created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) No 6 in a list of the year's top 10.

It said: "Any campaign tackling child poverty needs to be thought-provoking and BBH came up with the goods for Barnardo's." The wording on the cockroach advertisement said: "Baby Greg is one minute old. He should have a bright future. Poverty is waiting to rob Greg of hope and spirit and is likely to lead him to a future of squalor."

Other adverts in the series included a baby with a syringe in her mouth - a warning that childhood poverty could lead to drug abuse - and a baby with a meths bottle in her mouth - a message about alcoholism.

Before the campaign was launched, the charity had it vetted by the Committee of Advertising Practice, which drew up the ASA's code. Barnardo's said that the committee had raised no objections.

A spokeswoman for the charity said yesterday: "We gain nothing from this type of recognition apart from knowing we were working with a very professional agency."

Campaign's accolade for best advert of the year was given to Land Rover for a poster featuring Masai tribesmen and children standing in the shape of its Freelander model. Campaign said: "Yet again, Land Rover has delivered what is arguably this year's best piece of aspirational car advertising."

"Barnardo's cockroach adverts banned"

From The Independent. By Martin Hickman

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/barnardos-cockroach-adverts-banned-576199.html

Wednesday, 10 December 2003

An advertising campaign for the children's charity Barnardo's, showing cockroaches crawling out of the mouths of new-born babies, has been banned following a record number of complaints.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that Barnardo's used "shocking images" in its campaign and ordered them to be withdrawn.

Three adverts depicted babies' mouths filled with a cockroach, a syringe and a bottle of methylated spirits, with the slogan: "There are no silver spoons for children born into poverty".

Barnardo's defended the campaign as a stark portrayal of the wickedness of poverty. It said the pictures also demonstrated the often distressing nature of its work. But newspaper readers were upset by the computer-enhanced images and 466 complained to the ASA, the highest number this year.

Complainants said the adverts were "offensive, shocking and unduly distressing". Some suggested the adverts could encourage children to copy the images.

Barnardo's compared the campaign to hard-hitting adverts for road safety or anti-smoking which "caused distress for good reason."

In its ruling, the ASA said that children were unlikely to copy the adverts. But it decided that the campaign had broken the advertising code of practice because it could "cause serious or widespread offence."

Diana Green, Barnardo's director of communications, said the charity would abide by the watchdog's recommendations but it did not agree with them.

"We make no apologies because we have raised the debate of child poverty," she said.

"PR Week" Article on Barnardo's Silver Spoon Ads.

http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/article/197699/Barnardos-silver-spoon-ads-finally-banned-ASA/

by Chris Scott, 10-Dec-03

LONDON - The advertising watchdog has banned Barnardo's controversial 'silver spoon' advertising, disappointing the children's charity, after the campaign racked up almost 500 complaints.

The national print campaign, created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, bore the tagline "there are no silver spoons for children born into poverty". It featured harsh images of newborn babies with a cockroach, syringe or bottle of methylated spirits protruding from their mouths.

The campaign attracted 466 complaints in all and prompted Barnado's to run further print ads apologising for any offence caused, but also defending the creative work.

Upholding a complaint that the ads were offensive, shocking and unduly distressing, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the ads were "likely to cause serious or widespread offence". It ordered Barnardo's not to repeat the campaign.

A second complaint that the ads were irresponsible and could be copied by children was not upheld.

Diana Green, Barnardo's director of communications, said that the charity was unhappy with the ASA's adjudication.

"We're quite upset and disappointed by the adjudication. We worked closely with the Committee on Advertising Practice in advance and, although it can only give guidance, we received a lot more complaints than we expected," she said.

She added that the charity was still pleased with the campaign and had seen an upsurge in interest, receiving six times the donations previous campaigns have attracted and double the normal number of hits it receives on its website.

"We're pleased we had the debate about poverty as there was a lot of apathy and disbelief associated with the issue beforehand,' Green said.

Barnardos. Silver Spoons.

By Bartle Bogle Hegarty.


Article from The Guardian by Claire Cozens
Wednesday 12 November 2003 14.01 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/nov/12/childrensservices.advertising1

Dozens of people have contacted the advertising watchdog to complain about Barnardo's new campaign just hours after the shock image of a newborn baby with a cockroach in its mouth first appeared.

The Advertising Standards Authority said it had already received 30 complaints about the advert, which appeared in some tabloid newspapers this morning.
It showed a full-page image of a newborn baby with a hospital tag around its wrist and a large cockroach crawling out of its mouth. The strapline read, "There are no silver spoons for children born into poverty".
Other ads in the campaign feature a baby with a syringe, and one with a bottle of methylated spirits poking out of its mouth.

The children's charity has a history of courting controversy, most famously when it used images of a 10-month-old baby injecting heroin in a press campaign.
The Committee on Advertising Practice, which advises advertisers on the industry's code of conduct, took the rare step of writing to newspaper editors to advise them the image could contravene its taste and decency guidelines.

But Andrew Nebel, the director of marketing and communications for Barnardo's, insisted the charity's shock tactics were justified and said it had worked closely with the regulator in preparing its campaign.

"Barnardo's work involves dealing with shocking issues. This latest campaign in particular deals with child poverty, which the public is almost in denial about. We needed to overcome public apathy about poverty in Britain," he said.

"We don't have much money to spend, so we are looking for high levels of awareness from a relatively small campaign."

Mr Nebel said some complaints were inevitable and compared the strategy to "Bob Geldof's famous four-letter exhortation", which galvanised the public into action over the famine in Ethiopia.
The last Barnardo's campaign, which showed images of adult suicides and tragic deaths with the line "saving children from a living death", attracted around 20 complaints but was cleared by the ASA.

The latest campaign is aimed at raising awareness of child poverty and coincides with new government figures showing one in three children in Britain, and nearly half of all London children, now live in poverty.