'Make Poverty History' message banned in Britain ("Crikey! Well 'bout bloody time Guv'nor! I's don't likes to think about poverty I's don't!")

The TV ad from a coalition of more than 500 charities and social groups Make Poverty History, which features rock star Bono, seen here, has been pulled off TV after OFCOM, the nation's media watchdog, decided it was a 'political' organization the group(AFP/File/Bretrand Guay)

"Well-fed celebs,
Hell-fed celebs,
What the hell,
Sched: celebs,
If it makes us, turn-
Our heads!
It's our turn,
To sched,
A close look at,
Celebs,
See, who's well-fed,
While still, turning heads,
While still, earning cred,
The solutions gotta be new,
Half-in, and half-out?
They can still stay true,
What if celebs were you?
How could you secure your spot?
Give a little, to the have's,
And a little, to have-not's..."


(...)


Yahoo! News

'Make Poverty History' message banned in Britain

Mon Sep 12, 2:53 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - The coalition at the forefront of a British campaign to fight poverty in Africa has been banned from advertising on radio and television after the nation's media watchdog decided it was a "political" organisation.

Make Poverty History, a coalition of more than 500 charities and social groups, said Monday it was "disappointed" by the decision from OFCOM, just days before world leaders gather in New York where the plight of the world's poor is on the agenda of the World Summit at UN headquarters.

Its advertisement -- in which the likes of rock star Bono and model Claudia Schiffer snap their fingers every three seconds, symbolising how often a child dies as a result of poverty somewhere in the world -- has been on the air for several months.

Despite the fact that no one lodged a complaint, OFCOM said Make Poverty History was "wholly or mainly political" in that it sought to "achieve important changes" to British and Western government policy.

For that reason, it said, the advertisement can no longer be aired.

Adrian Lovett of the development charity Oxfam, a member of the Make Poverty History coordination team, said the global poverty issue was not "party political", but seen by millions as "the great moral issue of our time".

"We're disappointed with this decision," he said. "This advertisement simply highlights the fact that a child dies every three seconds because of preventable poverty."

Make Poverty History was behind a large peaceful march in Edinburgh in July that called for robust action on aid, trade and debt from the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations to combat endemic poverty in Africa.

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SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050912/wl_uk_afp/britainunsummit