Madeleine film complaints rejected

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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 23 complaints about the short film, screened in cinemas before the U-rated movie Shrek the Third.

Angry parents also left hundreds of comments on the Mumsnet website to complain that their children had been upset by the advert.

Some objected that, having tried to protect their youngsters from news reports about Madeleine's disappearance, they were confronted by it in the cinema.

The advert showed pictures of Madeleine with a voice-over explaining that she was "snatched" from her parents' rented apartment in Portugal on May 3.

Intended to publicise her disappearance, it was first shown on the internet and had been broadcast on all the major terrestrial and cable TV channels, apparently without complaint.

Rejecting the complaints, the ASA ruled that the advert did not contain distressing images or use sensationalist language.

The watchdog said: "We noted some children had been upset by the ad's appearance before the U-rated film Shrek the Third, but considered that the majority of children who saw the ad before that film were likely to have been aware of the issue or in the company of an adult who could explain it to them.

"We considered that because it highlighted, in a non-sensationalist way, a well-publicised issue in an attempt to help find a missing child, the ad was not unsuitable to be shown before a film with a U classification, was not socially irresponsible and was unlikely to cause undue fear and distress."