Channel 4’s posters for its reality show Go Back To Where You Came From have been rejected by out-of-home media owners.
The show follows six people with varying opinions on immigration as they traverse real migrant routes through Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
The adverts, devised by 4Creative – Channel 4’s in-house creative agency – featured comments made by the public on the social media trailer for the show. They included phrases such as “6 fools manipulated by left-wing media” and “utter woke nonsense”.
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The broadcaster created new posters for the show featuring lifejackets and a QR code that led to a YouTube trailer, which included the same controversial comments, but these were also rejected.
Channel 4 went back to the drawing board and its final approved advert mentions the rejections.
A spokesperson for Channel 4 told Campaign: “Unsurprisingly given the subject matter, there were a real range of responses from the public when we posted the trailer for Go Back to Where You Came From across Channel 4’s social channels.
“We’re really disappointed we haven’t been able to showcase opinions about this debate on outdoor poster sites up and down the country. What better way to spotlight such an important issue than to have given the public a chance to see the wide range of opinions on this programme.”
The decision to run the show has been as polarising as the adverts, with numerous charities, including Amnesty International, criticising the decision.
