Actor speaks out about banned charity TV advert
Howard Lake | 4 June 2006 | News
Actor Paul McGann has spoken out in support of World Vision in response to the British Advertising Clearance Centre’s (BACC) ban on the airing of their new TV advert. Paul McGann supplied the voice-over for the ad, criticised as “unfair to football” by BACC, and which shows a child in Malawi making a football from plastic bags and string.
The BACC banned the ad on the basis that it was “unfair to football” as it contrasted the £49 million it cost to sponsor the England football team alongside the 60p a day it costs to sponsor Masidi – the boy in the film.
Paul McGann said: “Does one laugh or cry? An advert describing how 60p a day might help a child in a developing country is pulled in order to spare the image of corporate sponsorship in a couple of rich ones. You couldn’t make it up.”
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The advert, which can be viewed on World Vision’s website www.sponsor.org, was filmed by the young boy who stars in it. Communities were given broadcast-quality cameras and Masidi chose to film his favourite past time – football.
In Malawi, however, footballs are hard to come by, so Masidi makes his from maize, plastic bags and string before joining his friends for a kick-about – in bare feet. A thirty second ad compares the three years it took to develop the World Cup ball with the ten minutes it takes Masidi to make his match ball. The advert was created by London agency FCBi.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.