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Child Guardian

Child-guardian

Children play a leading role in many publicity campaigns. Let's take a closer look at this: how are these children shown? What message is brought across? It matters to Terre des hommes (Tdh), as does it to Swiss Advertising (PS) and the Fédération romande de publicité et de communication (FRP), that children are protected when they are an integral part of a commercial communication and that their appearance should be neither discriminatory, unseemly, nor even excessively significant.

The Child Guardian Prize for child protection in Switzerland

On Publicity Day, 7 May, 2010, we have again singled out one agency and one advertiser in the categories of Press (advertisements and posters) and TV spots who met our selection criteria. Although the winner receives only a symbolic sum, the prize money flows directly into measures for child protection in Switzerland. A specialist jury has previously selected the winners from among the past year’s publicity makers. The prize is given exclusively to individual subjects and not for entire advertising campaigns.

Would you like to support the Child Guardian Prize as a sponsor, so promoting child protection initiatives in Switzerland? Just send us an e-mail: childguardian@tdh.ch or contact us by phone: 058 611 07 12.

Our selection criteria

Terre des hommes distances itself from the radical position which regards any child representation in publicity as equivalent to exploitation. However, it is not our intention to launch discussions on the image and role of children in advertising.
The Child Guardian Prize singles out publicity campaigns in which children are shown with their own personalities and are taken seriously, without denying their childhood.

Child protection

Children have a right to special protection. In advertising, this specifically includes:

  • Protection against all forms of exploitation: neither seedy nor suggestive representation
  • Protection against discrimination
  • To neither minimize nor encourage violence
  • Not to design any publicity which might influence children to dangerous or unhealthy conduct
  • Not to exploit children’s inexperience and credibility, nor to abuse their confidence. In no case should children be made to feel inferior because they do not possess a certain product.

Children are separate, whole personalities

The UN Convention for Children’s Rights defines children as human beings with rights and obligations. Children should be taken seriously and listened to according to their age and maturity. This means:

  • Not giving the impression that children are passive creatures. Children are not objects. Avoid all degrading belittlement of children.
  • The image presented should be of a strong child, one who is able to say no.

Role model

Children and youngsters appearing in advertisements act as role models for their contemporaries. If only perfect models (slender and pretty girls and well-built boys) are shown, normal children and youngsters will find life difficult.

Company responsibility

Our company respects children’s rights. In the first instance, this means that we tolerate neither child labour nor child exploitation.

The Child Guardian patronage committee

The patronage committee approves the selection of Child Guardian and fully supports us. To date we can count on the following personalities:

Our partners

2010 winners

Advertisement & poster: The jury would have liked to award a prize in the category ‘Advertisement & Poster’ to Pastorini Toys, for work created by the advertising agency Lesch+Frei AG BSW. However, this year the Advertisement Award is not being given for this category, as the conditions for granting this prize were not fulfilled. Only companies who respect child rights and who do not tolerate child labour or exploitation can be honoured in this way. Pastorini Toys could not confirm that they respect these conditions. The advertising impact of the poster itself should not be played down: it would merit the prize for its correct illustration of a child. However, the jury understood that the toys manufactured by Pastorini Toys are produced using child labour.

TV Commercial: Sympany «Kindergarten» (created by Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett, Zurich). In this TV commercial, a group of adults are fussily questioning a little boy before he can go to kindergarten. The boy reacts baffled and convinced our jury, composed of both children and adults. The child is taken fully into consideration and is at the centre of the story. His behaviour mirrors independent, convincing abilities and pride in decision taking.
Summing up by the jury: This innovative commercial shows an amusing story; the viewer is emotionally involved and identifies with the little boy at the kindergarten who – rightly – does not understand the complicated questioning of the teachers.
“The eyes say more than the rest – a good way of expressing it!” A successful characterisation!

See the commercial in French or in German.

The 2010 jury

  • President
    Rocco R. Maglio, Terre des hommes Foundation, Bern
  • Members
    Urs Beer, Consulting, Zurich
    Jean-Marc Brandenberger, FRP, Lausanne
    Dr. Esther Girsberger, advertising executive, Zurich
    Andreas Prokesch, editor and training writer, Wil
    Urs Schnider, Publicité suisse PS, Zurich
    Katja Stauber, Swiss TV, Zurich
    Ronja Tschuemperlin, expert in children’s rights, Bern
    Chiara and Cyrill (11 years old)