Barnardo's controversial charity communications

10/12/08

Charity communications can cause controversy and the latest not-for-profit campaign to have complaints issued against it is Barnardo's.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has rejected complaints about the advert after finding that the purpose of the ad justified the shock that some may experience watching it.

Barnardo's aimed to raise awareness of domestic child abuse through its charity communications and hoped to show how violence can have a cyclical nature.

The ASA reported on it's to decision to uphold the adverts, saying: 'While we sympathised deeply with the distress caused, we concluded that the aim of the ads justified the use of such strong imagery.'

According to ASA, the scene in the ad which shows a kitchen table where a man is seen hitting a girl on the back of the head and saying 'so they've let you out again have they, you worthless little cow', shows 'violence is unacceptable behaviour'.

It concluded that the advert does not serve to encourage or condone violent behaviour.

Male staff at Natwest recently undertook an unusual charity fundraising event when they chose to run a sponsored leg wax to raise cash for MacMillan Cancer Relief, Heart Research and Barnardo's.

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