Campaigns fronted by Tom Hardy and Eddie Redmayne also called out for reinforcing white saviour stereotypes in the annual Radi-Aid awards

“Poverty porn” appeals fronted by celebrities Ed Sheeran, Tom Hardy and Eddie Redmayne are simply reinforcing white saviour stereotypes, according to an aid watchdog.



The three films, made for Comic Relief and the Disasters Emergencies Committee (DEC), which raises cash for 13 major UK aid groups including Save the Children, Oxfam and ActionAid in emergencies, were nominated for “most offensive” campaigns of 2017 by the Radi-Aid awards. The annual contest, organised by the student-run Norwegian Students and Academics International Assistance Fund (Saih), is aimed at challenging aid groups to shift away from stereotypes about people living in poverty.

The criticism followed comments by Liz Warner, the chief executive of Comic Relief, admitting the organisation had lost its creative touch and needed to be “edgy again”.

The Sheeran-fronted Comic Relief video, during which the singer offers to pay hotel costs for street children in Liberia, verged on “poverty tourism”, according to the jury. They described DEC’s Hardy-fronted Yemen appeal, which contains graphic images of unidentified starving and sick children, as “devoid of dignity” and a throwback to the 1980s, when exploitative pictures of poor people were rife. But it did offer some political context, the jury said, unlike the group’s Africa appeal, featuring Redmayne. The DEC’s Africa video was deemed “poverty porn and people waiting to be saved”. All were nominated for the Rusty Radiator award.

Beathe Øgård, president of the Saih, said the three British films showed local people as victims and was an over-simplistic, outdated way to communicate about development.

“We have been presented with these kind of images since the 1980s,” she said. “They are horrible to watch. People are so used to them that for many they reinforce that feeling of hopelessness and apathy – and even a negative view of development in that nothing is going in the right direction.”

She acknowledged celebrities bring in donations – the DEC’s east Africa appeal raised £60m, while the Yemen appeal raised £27m – but said that they can distort the narrative, particularly when they are uninformed about the issues.



“Ed Sheeran has good intentions,” she said. “But the problem is the video is focused on Ed Sheeran as the main character. He is portrayed as the only one coming down and being able to help.”

Øgård said that in the four years the organisation had run the awards, she had seen more creative appeals, often by small organisations. Among those nominated for best fundraising film, or the Golden Radiator award , is one from War Child Holland, praised by judges as “powerful and positive”.

“It shows it is possible to play on our emotions without playing on guilt,” Øgård said. “You see a child using his imagination and playing. It is a refugee in Yemen but could be a child in Norway. It really hits a nerve.”

The film features a child in Yemen, laughing and playing with a Batman character. At one point, bombs drop and the family are forced to move, and we see “Batman” morph into the boy’s father. The words “For some children, fantasy is the only way to escape reality” flash on to the screen.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Batman, for War Child Holland.

The Radi-Aid awards grew out of a satirical video on aid fundraising in 2012 Radi-Aid: Africa for Norway, which went viral.

Jennifer Lentfer, director of Thousand Currents, a San Francisco-based charity supporting grassroots organisations, said she had noticed a return to the use of images of so-called poverty porn among larger NGOs, as public funding is squeezed.

“It is not surprising,” said Lentfer. “Pity and shame are easy emotional levers to pull. They are proved to bring in the dollars. It’s a transactional way of looking at viewers and readers, to say, ‘I just want your money.’”

DEC’s Nicola Peckett said: “DEC is not about general poverty in Africa and the developing world. It is specifically for urgent and large-scale humanitarian crises where rapid action and funding are needed. We need to mobilise the public and the response very quickly.”



Peckett said the model, where broadcasters film appeals on behalf of DEC, was a successful one, but the nominations had given the organisation food for thought.

“We will discuss it with our broadcast partners when we review our appeals,” she said.



Warner, at Comic Relief said its nomination would serve as a “constant reminder of the need to stay as relevant as possible going forwards and to give a voice to the people affected by the issues we care about”.

“If we do win this award, I would still like to say thank you to the artists whose support means we have reached mass audiences and raised vital funds for life-changing projects in the UK and around the world,” she said.

The public poll for the Golden Radiator and Rusty Radiator awards closes on the 4 December and winners will be announced on 7 Dec.