Tell ASA No More Monstrous Messages

Tell ASA No More Monstrous Messages

Started
January 30, 2009
Petition to
Petition Closed
This petition had 94 supporters

Why this petition matters

Started by Dora Raymaker

In order to complain directly to the Advertising Standards Authority about the Action For Childern adverising campaign, you will need to use ASA's complaint form.  Below is information to help you do that.  When you've finished contacting ASA, let everyone here know by completing this pledge!

So:

1. Fill out the ASA complaint form, using the information below, if needed (please feel free to personalize)
2. Submit the form
3. Complete this pledge

The times that the ad has been observed on air so far are:

Friday 23rd on ITV1 at around 10.45.
Thursday 22nd between 10:30pm and 10:45pm on Channel 5
Tuesday 27th ITV3 11.50pm
Wednesday 28th channel 4 at 9pm

If you're not sure what to write in the letter, here is some text you can use:

I am writing to complain about a current ad campaign by Action for Children in which autism appears to be depicted as a monster, and a teenage boy is made to state publicly that it made him a bad person.  Here it is, on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K5lSSTG-90

It seems from the advertisement that this young man was bullied in a previous school and has been punished for standing up to the bullies by being sent elsewhere and told it is his fault.

According to the Code of Advertising Practice:
Advertisements must not prejudice respect for human dignity or humiliate, stigmatise or undermine the standing of identifiable groups of people.

Also,

Anything which could encourage or condone the idea that some serious negative characteristic is associated with a particular group must be avoided. Particular sensitivity is required where the group in question is generally recognised to encounter prejudice and in note (5) Care is needed  with stereotypes of children to avoid the risk of taunting or bullying.
 
Bullying is a pervasive problem for people with social and communication issues, see http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=458 for an eloquent discussion. Please see http://www.thiswayoflife.org/murder.html for several examples of the most extreme prejudice faced by autistic people of all ages.
 
There is no reason to suppose that autism disposes people to be more violent--compare the frequency and character of violent crime among teenage males in the typical population.  There is reason to suppose that unmet needs and communication frustrations lead to challenging behaviours in autistic and other people.  In other words, it is not the autism causing the problems, as the advertisement clearly signifies, it is a social failure to provide essential support.

In my view this advertisement is clearly designed to condone the idea that some serious negative characteristic is associated with a particular group

And, further, I suggest the advertisement, by design or otherwise, prejudices respect for human dignity and humiliates, stigmatises and undermines the standing of identifiable groups of people .

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This petition had 94 supporters

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