The Advertising Standards Authority has cleared a Save the Children television advert featuring a real birth, which received more than 600 complaints.

The First Day ad depicts the birth of a baby with the help of a midwife with onscreen text stating that: “For a million newborns every year, their first day is also their last.” Upon its birth, the baby appeared to be dead.

The midwife was then shown administering care to the baby, who started crying, and a second message was shown stating: “Basic training for midwives can help end first-day deaths.”

The ad included an advisory warning and was not shown before 9pm.

Most of the complaints said that the use of images of a live childbirth was offensive and overly graphic. Others said the fact that the baby appeared to be dead was distressing. 

The ASA concluded that: “Whilst we acknowledged that some viewers may find the ads offensive, we considered the presentation of the ads was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offense.”

A Save the Children spokeswoman said: “It was never our intention to cause distress or upset anyone watching this advert. We accept the content is shocking which is why we included an advisory warning before it is shown, alerting viewers to the graphic nature of it.”

She added: “The death of every baby is a tragedy. By showing this advert, Save the Children hopes to bring to the attention of the world the scandal of first–day deaths and encourage members for the public to support our call to tackle it.”

The advert is embedded below. This film features a real birth scene which viewers might find distressing.