Ad description
A catalogue, for children’s play tents, viewed on 13 April 2011. The ad featured a photograph which showed two children playing with the Fire Station tent. The picture included a real fire that one child was pretending to extinguish.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was irresponsible because it showed children playing with fire.
Response
Win Green said they did not intend for the ad to cause harm or offence. They said that upon receiving notice of the complaint they had removed the image from their website.
Win Green said that the children were not playing with the fire and explained that this was a staged shot which had been taken under full adult supervision.
They explained that their photography aimed to show healthy old fashioned play.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted the catalogue targeted adults who would purchase play tents for their children. We considered that because the catalogue was targeted at adults with children who were the same age as the models featured, it was likely to be kept in households where children lived.
We noted the catalogue featured images of children playing with the play tents and considered it likely that children within the household would be attracted to the catalogue because they would have an interest in the play tents and because it featured images of children their own age. We also considered the images were not sufficiently stylised to prevent them from appearing to be anything other than realistic, and as such, were likely to be attractive to children. Because the ad featured an image of children playing with fire, we considered that young children who saw the catalogue might try to copy the images. Because children’s safety was potentially at risk if the images were emulated, we concluded that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
4.5
4.5
Marketing communications, especially those addressed to or depicting a child, must not condone or encourage an unsafe practice (see Section 5: Children).
(Harm and offence),
5.1.2
5.1.2
children must not be shown in hazardous situations or behaving dangerously except to promote safety. Children must not be shown unattended in street scenes unless they are old enough to take responsibility for their own safety.
Pedestrians and cyclists must be seen to observe the Highway Code
5.1.3
5.1.3
children must not be shown using or in close proximity to dangerous substances or equipment without direct adult supervision
and
5.1.4
5.1.4
children must not be encouraged to copy practices that might be unsafe for a child
(Children)
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Win Green to take care when depicting images of children in their catalogue in the future.
