Shock tactics have been part of the scenery of the fundraising landscape for decades, but it is a fine line between generating support and garnering negative feedback (or getting banned by the Advertising Standards Authority), says Stephen Cotterill.

We have all seen them on trains, on advertising hoardings and on our television sets – heartbreaking images of neglected animals in putrid yards; emaciated infants under scrappy tarpaulin shelters; and the war-ravaged, haunted faces of refugees. We are moved; we can’t help but be. For fundraisers, however, it is an ethical tightrope upon which to walk. If there is even the slightest sense that the public is being emotionally blackmailed or, in more extreme cases, being outright offended then goodwill, and potential income, will be lost.