Ed Sheeran's Comic Relief film labelled 'poverty porn' by aid watchdog

Tom Hardy and Eddie Redmayne videos have also been criticised

Ed Sheeran’s Comic Relief video — which aired on Red Nose Day — has been dubbed ‘poverty porn’ by an aid watchdog.

The almost five-minute clip, which sees the singer meet and rescue a child living on the streets of Liberia, had been nominated for “most offensive” campaign of 2017 by the Radi-Aid awards.

“This is a video is about Ed Sheeran. It’s literally poverty tourism,” the contest judges said. “The video should be less about Ed shouldering the burden alone but rather appealing to the wider world to step in. Massive improvement in the end. But is Ed Sheeran willing to pay for the boy's housing forever? What an irresponsible thing to do, and for this video to glorify that is terrible.”

The Sheeran-fronted video was one of three nominated for the award — organised by the Norwegian Students and Academics International Assistance Fund (Saih) — the other two fronted by actors Tom Hardy and Eddy Redmayne.

Judges called Hardy’s video for Disasters Emergencies Committee (DEC) “devoid of dignity to those suffering” saying the images were “graphical and stereotypical”. Redmayne's — also for DEC — was lambasted for “close to ‘poverty porn’”.

Speaking to The Guardian, Beathe Øgård, president of the Saih, said the three British videos were over-simplistic and outdated. “We have been presented with these kind of images since the 1980s,” she told the publication.

“They are horrible to watch. People are so used to them that for many they reinforce that feeling of hopelessness and apathy – and even a negative view of development in that nothing is going in the right direction.”

Øgård acknowledged celebrity endorsements raise money but remained critical. “Ed Sheeran has good intentions,” she said. “The problem is the video is focused on Ed Sheeran as the main character. He is portrayed as the only one coming down and being able to help.”

Both the nominated charities have responded to the award nomination, DEC’s Nicola Peckett saying:“We will discuss it with our broadcast partners when we review our appeals,”

Liz Warner of Comic Relief said the nomination serves as a “constant reminder of the need to stay as relevant as possible going forwards and to give a voice to the people affected by the issues we care about”.

“If we do win this award, I would still like to say thank you to the artists whose support means we have reached mass audiences and raised vital funds for life-changing projects in the UK and around the world.”