‘Bigger, Fatter’ - and harmful to Gypsy and Traveller children, says Advertising Watchdog

‘Bigger, Fatter’ - and harmful to Gypsy and Traveller children’, says Advertising Watchdog

Advertising Standards Authority upholds complaints about Channel 4’s Big Fat Gypsy Wedding billboard advertising campaign.

Gypsy and Traveller activists are celebrating after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that two of Channel 4’s ‘Bigger, Fatter, Gypsier’ advertising billboards were “offensive” and” irresponsible” and that one image was also guilty of sexualizing a child.

The billboards were part of an advertising campaign for the TV series Big Fat Gypsy Weddings that appeared in February this year. Three of the billboards depicted images of Irish Traveller children and all had the strap-line: ‘Bigger, Fatter, Gypsier’, and the campaign attracted 372 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.

The announcement by the ASA came following a three month investigation, after an initial decision not to investigate was successfully overturned during an appeal by the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain.

Speaking the day before the decision was announced, Sophia Vale, an English Gypsy and one of the co-complainants, said: “Channel 4 has made a fortune out my community with their mockumentaries. This is about taking a stand against the exploitation of Traveller children. No other minority community would have been subjected to this type of advertising that was so obviously offensive to so many people.”

Upholding a complaint against one billboard depicting a close-up portrait of a young Irish Traveller male child, the ASA ruled that the image, when combined with ‘Gypsier’, could be interpreted to mean that “aggressive behavior was typical”. This, the ruling continued, “reaffirmed commonly held prejudices” and was “likely to cause distress and mental harm to children from those communities.”

The ASA also found against an ad depicting two Irish Traveller women, one of whom was 15, who were pictured wearing their party clothing. When combined with the strap-line ‘Gypsier’, the ASA said that the ad was likely to endorse prejudice and that Channel 4 had “acted irresponsibly by depicting a child in a sexualised way”.

Brian Foster, a veteran Traveller teacher and Chair of the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers, provided evidence for the ITMB submission to the ASA investigators. Speaking to the Travellers’ Times, he explained what effect the billboards may have had on schools with Gypsy and Traveller pupils: “Based on the wealth of evidence that has been presented to me by teachers and schools from around the UK, there is no question that the Big Fat Gypsy series and the recent national advertising campaign has caused real and long term harm to the educational and social inclusion of Gypsy, Romany and Traveller children,” he said.

The Travellers’ Times also spoke to David Enright, from Howe and Co, a solicitor, who has been working tirelessly pro-bono to push the ITMB complaint through. Mr Enright said that this was the first time a media regulator had found for a complaint about racism against Gypsies and Travellers. Explaining how important this was for the future, he added: “The ASA’s powerful findings represent a fundamental turning point in how Travellers and Gypsies can be portrayed in the media in the future. No longer will it be acceptable for the media and broadcasters to portray Travellers and Gypsies in racist stereotypes without regard for the quantifiable harm done to those vulnerable communities.”

This hope that the ASA ruling will initiate a sea-change in how Gypsies and Travellers are represented in the media is echoed by Andrew George; MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers. He points out that the ASA sought evidence from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission who described prejudice against ethnic Travellers as the last respectable form of racism. We hope that by publishing its adjudication today, the ASA has announced in a very public way, that the last respectable racism is no longer acceptable,” he says.

When approached by the Traveller’s Times, a spokesperson from Channel 4 said: “It was not Channel 4's intention for these adverts to cause offence but we are sorry this was the case among some members of the Gypsy and Traveller community.

“All responsible action was taken pre-publication: the posters were voluntarily submitted to the industry’s independent CAP copy advice team who advised that they believed they complied with the advertising code; consent was obtained from contributors; and the posters were shared with those featured, who had no objections.”

The Traveller’s Times then asked Channel 4 if they accepted the ASA’s findings, but we had received no reply by the time of going to press.

Complaints against two other billboards, one depicting three young girls dressed for Holy Communion and one depicting the Irish Traveller Big Brother winner Paddy Doherty, were not upheld.