Charity mail-out ‘scares children’
Charity Save the Children has been slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for a direct mail campaign that could scare children.
The fundraising mailer, created by Proximity, had a close-up picture of the eyes of an African child on the front, and a similar photo of an Asian child’s eyes on the back. The pictures had the strapline/ “If you have brown eyes, you’re more likely to die young.”
A leaflet inside explained that most children in the Third World, where infant and child mortality rates are highest, have brown eyes.
The ASA received a number of complaints from the public who said the text was likely to cause “undue fear and distress to children” and has ruled that the mailing should not be used again. Save the Children has told the ASA it will amend the mailer if it uses it again.
The ASA has also upheld complaints against cosmetics giant Clinique over a magazine ad for its Repairwear wrinkle cream.
The ASA ruled the claim that peptide complex in the cream “enables skin to steer hearty cells to the base of a wrinkle and triggers skin’s own natural collagen production” was misleading, after consulting an expert who questioned the research Clinique submitted in support.
