Ed Sheeran's Liberia appeal voted most offensive charity campaign of 2017 - is the award fair?

A Comic Relief video appeal featuring music star Ed Sheeran has been named the worst charity campaign of 2017 by a public vote.

The Radi-Aid awards are run by The Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund (SIAH) and expose the worst efforts at charity fundraising from around the world.

Every year the group nominates three campaigns for the 'Rusty Radiator' and asks the public to vote for the most offensive example. "Ed Sheeran Meets A Boy Who Lives on the Street", won this year's dubious prize for its representation of childhood poverty in a Liberian slum.

In the video piece, Sheeran meets a young boy sleeping rough on a beach in Liberia's capital Monrovia. The boy has been left homeless after his mother and grandfather died from Ebola and he was abandoned by his father. After learning of his plight, Sheeran offers to pay for the boy's accommodation as they attempt to find a school for him to attend.

"This is a video is about Ed Sheeran. It's literally poverty tourism. The video should be less about Ed shouldering the burden alone but rather appealing to the wider world to step in," said the prize's jury.

Two other campaigns, both by disaster relief charity DEC, made the shortlist including a donation appeal for the crisis in Yemen by actor Tom Hardy.

The Radi-Aid awards aim to promote more positive representations of Africa in media and claims many campaigns are patronising to the continent's inhabitants.

Comic Relief responded to their award by saying that it would work to bring a better perspective on Africa with "a little extra energy."

"We are all actually on the same side – of working to fight inequality and injustice in the world," the organistation said.

In 2012 SIAH released this satirical video called 'Africa for Norway' as part of a fictional appeal to provide radiators for cold Norwegian children.