Barnardo’s first TV advertisement ‘Break the Cycle’, initially aired in November 2008 and again in June 2009, and was victim to to criticism as the advertisement proved "distressing" due to the violent, sensitive nature of it and the reference of drugs.

Despite the controversy and the vast number (over 500) of complaints that The Advertising Standards Authority received because of the advertisement, it narrowly escaped being banned from television with Barnado acknowledging that the ad was hard hitting but insisting that it needed to show the grim reality of the young person concerned. The charity stated that the advertisement was approved for transmission to be shown after the watershed of 9pm.