Complaint against ugly kids campaign upheld

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against The Edge radio station's "Ugly Kids" competition, resulting in it revealing the winner earlier than expected.

The campaign shows pictures of three children with facial deformities, such as an enlarged chin, missing and bucked teeth, and invites people to vote on-line for the ugliest child.

The campaign, shown on bus shelters, billboards and street posters in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin, did not mention it was run by The Edge radio station.

The posters also did not reveal that the three children depicted were The Edge's radio presenters JJ, Dom and Jase from the Morning Madhouse Breakfast Show.

The posters did not give an explanation for the competition, but said "all will be revealed" on September 20.

The authority's executive director, Glen Wiggs, told NZPA it had received "quite a number" of complaints about the campaign.

The complaints mostly said the advertisement was likely to cause contempt or ridicule of handicapped ("ugly") children.

As the complaint was upheld, the radio station has changed its posters today, three days early, to reveal the winner of the competition as JJ, who received over 30,000 votes.

The Edge marketing and promotions director Darryl Paton told NZPA he was surprised about the complaints the station had received about the ads.

"It's a practice used all over the world, it's called a tease reveal campaign," he said.

Mr Paton said all the complaints he dealt with were from people who did not listen to the station.

"We have had heaps of complaints that came from people who are slightly sensitive, but they are not our target audience," he said.

Mr Paton said the campaign was still "totally worth it", as the competition received over 50,000 votes on its website.

The authority's complaints board found the advertisement "socially irresponsible" as it had the potential to have a negative impact on the self-esteem of children and could encourage name-calling, ridicule and bullying.

The board said that because there was no indication as to who was running the competition on the posters or the website, the public could not put the competition in any context.

Due to the number of complaints received, the board said they were "in no doubt that the advertisement had caused both serious and widespread offence in the light of generally prevailing community standards" .

- NZPA