Formal Letter : Letter to the editor

Barnardo's ad provokes storm of protest

Charities and public complain over picture in child campaign
John Carvel, social affairs editor

Thu 13 Nov 2003 09.18 GMTFirst published on Thu 13 Nov 2003 09.18 GMT

The children's charity Barnardo's ran into a storm of public protest yesterday when it
launched a £1m advertising campaign showing a new-born baby with a cockroach
crawling out of its mouth.

The provocative campaign was designed to overcome indifference about the continuing
impact of poverty on children's lives. But the choice of such a powerful image provoked
a hostile reaction from the public and other charities.

After the first ads appeared in morning newspapers, the Advertising Standards

Authority received 92 written complaints through its website and ordered an urgent
investigation.

Another charity, The Child Poverty Action Group, said it was uneasy about the use of
extreme images from which many families in poverty were likely to recoil.

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And NCH, another leading children's charity, said the ads were "demeaning and
insulting to the very people they purport to help".

Barnardo's stuck to its guns last night and vowed to continue with its plans for a four-
week campaign. The next ads are due to run in the press at the weekend.

The first ad that ran in the Guardian and other papers yesterday 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 slogan was: "There are no silver spoons for children born
into poverty." The ad continued: "Baby Greg is one minute old. He should have a bright
future. Poverty has other plans. Poverty is waiting to rob Greg of hope and spirit and is
likely to lead him to a future of squalor ..."

Other ads in the campaign prepared by the advertising agency BBH feature a baby with
a syringe, and one with a bottle of methylated spirits poking out of its mouth.

The images were based on research showing babies born into poverty were more likely
to grow up to be addicted to alcohol and drugs, become victims and perpetrators of
crime and to be homeless.

Diana Green, Barnardo's director of communications, said the charity was planning to
spend almost £1m on the series. It has been running hard-hitting pre-Christmas

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/nov/13/advertising.media
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Formal Letter : Letter to the editor

campaigns for the last four years and last year won an advertising effectiveness award
for pictures of children with aging faces, warning how prostitution can steal childhood.

Ms Green said the charity cleared the ads in advance with the committee on advertising
practice, an industry body that advises the ASA. "We did as much as we could to
establish they would not contra vene any codes of practice. We are still confident in the
campaign."

Andrew Nebel, director of marketing and communications, said: "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.

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

Martin Barnes, director of the Child Poverty Action Group, said the the charity was right
to raise awareness of child poverty. "There is a place for shock tactics ... but we are
concerned and uneasy about the way in which the complex issue of child poverty is
linked specifically to drug abuse and alcoholism."

Simon Burne, NCH's director of marketing, said "Shocking adverts like these mislead
the public about what it means to be poor."

The NSPCC declined to comment on another charity's ads, but defended its own use of
shock tactics. "Our advert that depicted a cartoon character being beaten by its parent
raised public awareness _ Calls to our national child protection hotline doubled to more
than 500 a day during that period," a spokesman said.

The row came as the Charities Aid Foundation was preparing a warning that giving to
charity has fallen by 25% as a percentage of GDP over the last decade.

Stephen Ainger, the foundation's chief executive, will tell its annual conference today
that giving declined in the 1990s and only started to recover in 2000 with the growth of
more professional fundraising and introduction of tax incentives.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/nov/13/advertising.media
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