Shark finning film too graphic for TV

The 45-second, black and white commercial was put together by London advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, in support of conservation group Bite-Back’s shark protection campaigns.

Utilising footage from around the world, the film shows how fishermen slice off sharks’ fins before dumping the relatively invaluable bodies back overboard to sink and die gradually on the seabed.

The link between this cruel practice and the predominantly Asian demand for shark fin soup which drives it is made.

In terms of British restaurants which trade in the soup, Bite-Back is now “calling on the British public to help report every restaurant profiting from this horrific practice, so the charity can encourage them to stop”.

Clearcast, the adjudicator run by the UK’s eight largest commercial broadcasters, deemed that, while unsuitable for airing on television, the film qualified for an 18-certificate cinema rating.

It may or may not end up running asa film trailer, depending on whether Bite-Back can raise the necessary financial backing required.

The film has been shortlisted for advertising film makers’ Golden Lion award in Cannes, and for the Campaigns section of the biennial Wildscreen Festival, claimed to be “the most prestigious and influential event in the wildlife and environmental film making industry”.

It can be viewed at www.bite-back.com.