Pro bono ad banned for "attacking football"

Wow, footie fever has reached new heights and clearly broiled the brains of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre watchdog who just banned an ad for "attacking football."

The banned advert from World Vision was encouraging viewers to sponsor a child in the Third World, it showed a young African boy playing football with a ball made out of maize, bags and string. The VO then said: "England's team are sponsored for £49million. Masidi is sponsored for 60p a day."

The BACC said that the advert "suggested money spent in the development and sponsorship of football was wasted" - meanwhile the World Vision boss Rudo Kwaramba was "extremely surprised by this ruling."

Rudo Kwaramba, Director of Advocacy, Communications and Education at World Vision, said: “In our eyes, the advert is in no way anti-World Cup or anti-football. It simply uses the common language of football to point out the difference between western world affluence and developing world resourcefulness through the eyes of a sponsored child.

“The comparison between football sponsorship and child sponsorship is used simply to reflect the use of the same word with very different meanings, both in scope and in financial terms in the two contexts.”

The BACC told World Vision that they felt the adverts “suggested that money spent in the development and sponsorship of football was wasted and they could see no good reason for singling out football in this way particularly given that footballers do a lot for charity.”