Lilith
09-02-2006, 08:24 AM
(gg)
LONDON (Reuters) - A Home Office radio spot
advertising a web site telling children how to stay
safe online has been banned in a mix-up over links to
pornography.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the ad
should not be broadcast again in its current form
after receiving a complaint from a listener when it
was aired in March.
The problem arose over the spelling of the Web site,
www. thinkuknow.co.uk. The listener had called up
thinkyouknow.co.uk -- with an extra "y" and "o" -- and
had found that site contained links to adult material.
The ASA said: "Although we recognized that there was
no intention, we considered that a significant effect
of the ad had been to indirectly publicize services
which were unacceptable for broadcast: namely
restricted adult material and other sexual services."
The Home Office/Child Exploitation and Online
Protection Center (CEOP) advert was broadcast on 96
Trent FM with the message "what you say online isn't
always what a pedophile hears. Giving out personal
information could let a pedophile track you down."
CEOP told the standards authority it was aware of the
potential for error but believed teenagers were
accustomed to using abbreviations such as "u" in text
messages and e-mails.
It noted that the inappropriate material on the other
site was at least four clicks away from the home page
and that by then any user would have realized they had
made a mistake.
LONDON (Reuters) - A Home Office radio spot
advertising a web site telling children how to stay
safe online has been banned in a mix-up over links to
pornography.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the ad
should not be broadcast again in its current form
after receiving a complaint from a listener when it
was aired in March.
The problem arose over the spelling of the Web site,
www. thinkuknow.co.uk. The listener had called up
thinkyouknow.co.uk -- with an extra "y" and "o" -- and
had found that site contained links to adult material.
The ASA said: "Although we recognized that there was
no intention, we considered that a significant effect
of the ad had been to indirectly publicize services
which were unacceptable for broadcast: namely
restricted adult material and other sexual services."
The Home Office/Child Exploitation and Online
Protection Center (CEOP) advert was broadcast on 96
Trent FM with the message "what you say online isn't
always what a pedophile hears. Giving out personal
information could let a pedophile track you down."
CEOP told the standards authority it was aware of the
potential for error but believed teenagers were
accustomed to using abbreviations such as "u" in text
messages and e-mails.
It noted that the inappropriate material on the other
site was at least four clicks away from the home page
and that by then any user would have realized they had
made a mistake.