The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children launches
its Christmas appeal this week with two films centred on the chilling
spectre of child abuse.
The films will run throughout December and both contain a powerful
appeal for financial support over the Christmas period.
They were created by the NSPCC’s agency, WWAV Rapp Collins, while the
BFCS directors, Michael Seresin and John O’Donnell, donated their
services to the project for free.
Seresin’s ad, ‘lost children’, lingers on shots of children in pain,
using the words to the Chris Rea song, Tell me There’s a Heaven, to
bring home the extent of their suffering.
Among the children is a frightened little girl sitting on the floor; a
flashback of a teddy bear being hurled against the wall helps explain
her suffering. The ad ends with her sitting outside her house in the
rain, cradling her broken bear.
The other commercial, directed by O’Donnell and called ‘workers’, is
based on case histories and shows the reconstruction of an NSPCC
workers’ meeting. The cases shown are real and based on the more than
67,000 concerned calls that the NSPCC’s free helpline received in the
last year.
Both ads end with an appeal for a donation and an 0800 number so that
viewers can pledge their money. The ads break on Channel 4 this week.
