World Cup vs World Vision?

How many Aussies will be late for work tomorrow having stayed up in the still small hours to watch the Socceroo-Croatia contest?

And now this from http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/

World cup anti-poverty advert is banned The UK Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre has banned an advert by a Christian relief agency which contrasts the £49 million it has cost to sponsor the England World Cup football with the 60p a day it costs to support a child in a poor community.According to the BACC the problem is that the agency concerned, World Vision, has not yet got the required permission from the England team and the Football Association, who are both mentioned in the film – which features former Doctor Who film star Paul McGann doing a voiceover.The one-minute advert was filmed by a young boy called Masidi from Malawi. He makes a ball out of maize to kick around with his friends because it is the nearest thing to a proper football which he can get hold of as a member of an impoverished community. World Vision says it has now had to spend more money to get an alternative advert shown. Though the ostensible issue is the technical matter of referring to third parties, the development organization thinks that the image of the message may have had something to do with it too – though the BACC denies this.“In our eyes, the advert is in no way anti-World Cup or anti-football. It simply uses the common language of football to point out the difference between Western world affluence and developing world resourcefulness,” says Rudo Kwaramba, who is responsible for advocacy, communications and education at World Vision.The purpose of the advert is to promote child sponsorship programmes as a way of supporting children in developing countries. Other agencies, such as Christian Aid and Oxfam, prefer to channel resources to communities and organisations rather than singling out individuals or families.But they have also had their advertising problems. A Make Poverty History television advert they and other groups put together was banned last year because mentioning trade and debt was deemed ‘political’. Actor Paul McGann is not impressed by this latest bar on a campaign he was supporting: “Does one laugh or cry? An advert describing how 60p a day might help a child in a developing country is pulled in order to spare the image of corporate sponsorship in a couple of rich ones. You couldn’t make it up.”