I don't normally moan about adverts as this is how MNHQ get revenue, but please - ditch the NSPCC one

[PussinJimmyWhoooos]

The monkey getting bashed and realising this does happen to children in RL is making me feel sick....so awful....

But hiding it away and pretending it doesn't happen won't help the children going through it

True but so awful

I was just gonna post the same thread!

It makes me feel ill

I find most NSPCC adverts to be OTT and horrid anyways

Um, I hate to be the one that breaks it to you but child abuse is horrid and OTT.....

they HAVE to be horrid and OTT because a lot of child abuse is a LOT worse than the ads are allowed to show (ime)

Sorry we didn't get back to you on this yeseterday. We're taking a look at this and will come back to you.

do you know if mn remove this ad i might flounce! (now there's motivation for you)

if the nspcc can't advertise in a hard hitting way here then where???

I also hate the NSPCC ads. I really don't know what they are for. We KNOW child abuse is horrible. The people who don't, almost certainly aren't on Mumsnet. I am quite disturbed that so much NSPCC money is spent on advertising rather than helping children in danger. I found the campaign where they sent what looked like Christmas cards, but when you opened them there was a really graphic description of a child being abused, so offensive and intrusive, I cancelled by direct debit to them and gave it to Save The Children instead.

Just like the baby name one. I got one through the door and it had my dd's name in one Just what I needed 4 days post-natel

I beleive we all are aware of child abuse and know it happens, but i don;t think we need to be bombarded with so much advertising of it. the adverts on tv are awful my children regualraly ask questions about them and its ahrd to explain to them what the message is that the nspcc are tryign to get across.

If the money raised was channeled into educating children through talks at school about stranger danger and not keeping secrets if someone tells you to etc, thast this will eb far more worthwhiel than shocking advertising on tv, the internet and what amounts to junk mail.

like a pp i also cancelled my dd to nspcc as i was fed up of all the junk mail that they sent me continuosly and felt my £5 a month would be better spent with a different charity (shelter, who offer housing advice to eveyone including those who are victims of abuse)

MN - I will be sorely disppointed if you got rid of the ad (though i feel sure you wont - we cant aford any more flounces for a start!)
Mab - reading your post, i felt all cringey. Particularly the bit abou "so i sent it to save the children instead"....yup, that'll teach them to send you bits of paper that arent quite to you taste!

is it just me who never notices adverts on websites? i honestly couldn't tell you what's advertised on here (sorry MHHQ).

No, it was offensive, it was something that could have been opened by anyone, and it was POINTLESS. A huge waste of the money I was sending to protect children. That's why I cancelled my direct debit. I also found the campaign sending stuff with our children's names on it just awful. Again, pointless. I'd rather support Kids Company, which manages to do amazing work with some of the most deprived kids in the UK without resorting to these tactics.

Could anyone by any chance take a screen grab - it's a campaign that's come through our agency - so we haven't seen it?
txs

I am not referring to this ad as I haven't seen it either. I support MN's right to show it, but I can still be angry with the NSPCC's waste of money.

urh I saw this this morning

it is terribly crude and you know what it is goign to say but you think "surely they can't be THAT crude about it?"

You can't really do a screen capture - it shows a man beating up a toy chimpanzee and then throwing it on the floor, then it says "Some people do this to children!"

It is very crude and a bit lame TBH

The idea with the NSPCC is that they need to at least make pregnant women cry

Hi all,
We don't tend to disallow things in general on the grounds of offense caused unless there is a screaming consensus that we should and/or the material is obviously obscene. There doesn't seem to be a screaming consensus here but we will definitely contact the NSPCC and draw their attention to this thread - I'm sure they'll find the feedback useful. Hopefully we'll get a response from them directly which we can post up.
Best,
MN Towers

Maybe the NSPCC will look at different ways of getting the message across...I do understand they need to advertise and get the point across but its just that as a mum, seeing that made me feel so upset...

Furthermore, someone who does beat their child are not going to be moved by an advert if they are capable of doing it iyswim?

phew.

Oh please have it removed
Some of us come on here to ESCAPE those things, not to have it thrust in our faces

It's an unjust way of thinking Justine that until it gets to xxx amount of people upset, it will continued to be allowed. Surely you can see if it brings unbidden thoughts, feelings, memories etc to even ONE person then it should be removed?

WhatFreshelleisthis, the problem is that if we operated like that we'd be removing anything and everything...
To give you an extreme eg someone might be very upset by a Yoghurt advert/post because their granny died by choking on yoghurt (fingers crossed noone's granny did) - should we disallow posts/ads for yoghurt?

I don't want to sound callous but MN is an open discussion board and if we start censoring on the grounds of offense caused where do we draw the line? Particularly if others would be equally offended if we did remove the said ad or post (eg Sophable). We really don't want to be in a situation where we are saying that your hurt and outrage is any less valid than someone elses.

That said we do agree with you that these ads are a bit crude and we're pleased to say that the NSPCC have said they'll come back to us about it and of course we'll post their response up straight away.

This is a positive thing actually....maybe if the NSPCC realises that some of their adverts are putting people off donating (as people have said on this thread), they may change and could get more money as a result...so, no bad thing really.

Thanks for posting Justine

Here is the response from the NSPCC:

"Over the years that we have been using advertising, we have tested a wide range of approaches and advertising styles and have found that adverts which clearly and simply state the 'problem' of child abuse and the 'need' for people to donate to the NSPCC recruits, by far, the most donors. Obviously we understand that this approach does not work for everyone but as a charity we have a responsibility to use our resources wisely and in the most cost effective manner. This is why we continue with an approach which has always worked well for us.

Across the NSPCC as a whole, for every £1 which is donated, 79p is spent directly on activities which aim to end cruelty to children. The other 21p is spent on administrative costs, a small proportion of which includes fundraising activities across all media, including TV. We rely on the money donated by supporters to keep our services running."

Thank you for responding Justine.

Though understanding your point that things cant be censored, people's view points are sometimes at odds and you are stuck in the middle I feel that an outbreak of grans dying of choking on a yoghurt (heartbreaking though that would be)doesnt effect a huge % of the population, wouldnt for years keep me awake at night, suffer backflashes, taint my relationship with my children and make me weep uncontrollably - no, howl- at things read in the paper. My point was just that some if us are here for an escape for a few mins, and ads like this take that little escape away.

the consensus here seems to ask you to remove it. Isnt that what you said you would listen to in your post( though we are refined laydees here and aren't "screaming" )

But then again I havent seen it today so maybe it has gone!

I saw it for the first time just now on the lone parent board, haven't seen it on others so far, and I actaully cried. I know what goes on, I used to be abused myself, I don't need to see it all over again and I'm sure most people realise what abuse it too without having it shoved in their faces.