British Heart Foundation advert banned
| The
advert showed a woman with a plastic bag over her head
- the strapline was: 'I've got heart failure. And this
is what it feels like every morning.'
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The Brith Heart Foundation (BHF) hit controversy in June
2002 when one of its high-profile newspaper adverts was banned
by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The advert showed
a woman with a plastic bag over her head - the strapline was:
'I've got heart failure. And this is what it feels like every
morning.'
The ASA received 238 complaints about the advert, many from
parents who were concerned that children might see the image
and mimic it, putting themselves in danger of suffocation.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)
described the choice of image as 'unfortunate'.
The British Heart Foundation argued that because the image
was neither attractive, nor exciting, children were unlikely
to emulate it. They also said they had contacted the ASA's
own copy advice team before running the advert and was advised
the campaign was unlikely to break the association's codes.
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'The BHF stands by
its decision to use a
powerful and
hard-hitting image
to draw much-needed
attention to the
distressing aspects of
heart failure.'
|
Despite the criticism and the ban, the BHF was largely unrepentant.
Betty McBride, the Director of Marketing and Communications
said 'The BHF stands by its decision to use a powerful and
hard-hitting image to draw much-needed attention to the distressing
aspects of heart failure.'
She added that the advert had been very successful and had
encouraged 13,500 people to ask for help and information about
heart failure. When the original advert was replaced by a
less shocking image in the national press, calls for information
fell from over 2,000 per day to 350.
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