# Actor speaks out about banned charity TV advert

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/06/04/actor-speaks-out-about-banned-charity-tv-advert/
- Published: 2006-06-04T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

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.

 

 

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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.”

 

 

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.

 

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