The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the
advertisement should not be played again after complaints that it
could lead to listeners accessing pornography through the
advertised child protection web address.
The advert was designed to promote the advice site
thinkuknow.co.uk. Listeners who instead typed thinkyouknow.co.uk
into web browsers found themselves directed towards pornographic
material. The ASA found that the advert did not make clear how the
web address should be spelled.
"The ASA noted the ad had not spelt out the website address in
full to listeners and if typed as 'thinkyouknow' instead of
'thinkuknow' would direct listeners to a website with links to
adult material," said the ASA's ruling. "This was particularly
concerning as the ad was aimed at teenagers and the service being
promoted was to help them stay safe online."
The advert was broadcast on GCap Media-owned Trent FM in March
and April of this year. The ASA said that the advert continued to
be broadcast after the problem with the web address had come to
light.
"We were extremely concerned that, although the Radio
Advertising Clearance Centre had been assured by [ad agency] RKCR
that the ad had been taken off air, it continued to be broadcast
despite GCap Media, RKCR and the Home Office being aware of the
possibility of confusion," said the ruling.
The Home Office told the BBC that it was sorry for the error.
"We will of course comply with the ASA's decision and apologise for
any unwitting problems this may have caused by the similarity in
name with this search engine," said a spokesman.
The advert is now the responsibility of the Child Exploitation
and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), which said that it took over
the campaign after it had begun and argued to the ASA that the
offending material was at least four clicks away from the mistaken
web address.
"Although we recognised that there was no intention, we
considered that a significant effect of the ad had been to
indirectly publicise services which were unacceptable for
broadcast; namely restricted adult material and other sexual
services," said the ASA verdict.
The CEOP Centre announced this week that it had struck a deal
with Microsoft to have a 'report abuse' button on its popular
instant messaging service. Any users of the IM tool can press the
button and a report will immediately be sent to police.
"Behind the report abuse button will sit police and intelligence
officers who have been specially trained to tackle child sex
abuse," said Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the CEOP Centre. "We
will tell you how to capture information and how to seize online
discussions and then proactively do all we can to track down the
perpetrator."
