Save the Children birth ad cleared

Save the Children birth ad clearedA Save the Children Fund campaign which featured a woman giving birth to a baby which was clearly fighting for life has escaped action by the ad watchdog despite attracting 613 complaints from viewers who claimed it was “offensive, overly graphic and unduly shocking and distressing”.
The campaign, created by Adam&EveDDB, used real-life footage shot at the Peters Town Clinic in Liberia last year, and although it was not taken specifically for the ad the mother had given her permission to be filmed.
Following the birth, the baby is carried to a table, looking blue and clearly not breathing. The ad switches to the image of the mother, with her back to the camera crying.
Onscreen text states: “For a million babies every year, their first day is also their last.” The midwife is then seen rubbing the baby, who starts crying. Text then reads, “Basic training for midwives can help end first day deaths.”
A number of complaints claimed the images of a dead baby were inappropriate, while others said the ad would cause undue stress and offence to pregnant women, parents and mothers who may have lost a child themselves through miscarriage or still birth.
Save the Children said the ad was intended to communicate the shocking and distressing statistic that one million babies die on their first day.
The organisation said it believed the images of childbirth were not offensive in the context of a generally accepted moral, while there are already programmes on television such as ‘One Born Every Minute’ and ‘Call the Midwife”, which depict real-life childbirth. In addition, the ad contained a warning message, and the ad was shown after 9pm.
Rejecting the complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled the film communicated the issue of death during childbirth in a manner that respected the dignity of the mother while raising awareness of the issue.
The regulator told Save the Children it was free to continue to broadcast the commercial.

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  1. Save the Children live birth ad cleared despite 613 complaints to the ASA http://t.co/tXQnfPK7tb #advertising #digitalmarketing

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