Leeds water safety campaigners praise decision to cut dangerous TV ad

Leeds water safety campaigners are praising a decision to change a TV advert that promotes jumping into cold water.

The Birdseye advert that caused the controversy featured Captain Birdseye describing how "he enjoyed the simple things in life, like jumping into cold water on a hot day with his grandson."

Amanda Ibbotson lost a loved one when 16 year old David Cullen drowned in Roundhay Lake.

Now she runs the “David’s Water Safety Awareness” trying to teach kids just how dangerous it can be.

She's told us it is disappointing - as cold water shock is a major factor in drownings

Birdseye have released a full statement, and pulled the ad from TV screens:

At Birds Eye, we take our advertising responsibilities very seriously and we were grateful to be made aware of this issue. Since then, we have taken the current advert off air. We are now amending the voiceover to remove references to the temperature of the water and weather.

We take all appropriate steps to ensure that our advertising is suitable to air in the UK and observe safety guidelines during the production of all our advertising. Our testing did not raise this specific issue. As a family brand, we decided to take swift action and wish campaigners every success in highlighting this important issue.