Methodist Church Responds to Ofcom Decision to Ban Make Poverty History Ads

The Methodist Church has responded to the decision by Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, to ban the campaign group Make Poverty History from advertising on television and radio after it was deemed a “political body”.
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The campaign featured high profile celebrities including Brad Pitt, Kylie Minogue and Cameron Diaz clicking their fingers to the statement “somebody dies avoidably through poverty every three seconds”.

Ofcom banned the adverts, however, on the basis that they were “towards a political end”.

The Methodist Church issued a statement on the watchdog’s decision in which it said that it would continue to support the Make Poverty History campaign, despite Ofcom’s decision.

The statement by Andrea Cox, Methodist coordinating secretary for public life and social justice, read as follows:

"Many churches and faith groups are backing Make Poverty History, including the Methodist Church. We believing that striving to end poverty and aiding the poor is an integral part of our Christian faith.

“The decisions that affect the well-being of millions of people are necessarily political in nature, since only politicians and those they work with and appoint - such as central bankers - have the power to bring about the changes we seek.

"That all three main British political parties backed some or all of the goals of MPH shows that, whilst this campaign is played out in the political arena, it is not a party political issue.

"We appreciate Ofcom's point that it is not judging whether the MPH campaign is 'good' or 'bad' politics, and that is has had to reach a decision in an area it has not been called on before.

"Nonetheless, it is a concern that a campaign that many Methodists feel called to back because of their faith is now denied access to the public airwaves because it is dubbed political.

"The Make Poverty History campaign is continuing, with important decisions yet to be taken at the upcoming WTO meeting. The Methodist Church will continue to back it, celebrates what has already been achieved, and hopes for good news from the rest of the campaign."

Make Poverty History representatives said it was disappointed at Ofcom’s decision to pull the plug on the ads, which also received no complaints, and said that most people viewed starvation as “the great moral issue of our time”.