controversial adverts

[nbatrouni]

whats your opinion on controversial advertising such as barnardos recent child poverty campaign, BHF anti smoking campaign and also DOT think campaign. Do you find it offensive of effective advertising ??????????

[LeMarchand]

The anti-smoking one upset my girlfriend so much that she nagged me into giving up, so I guess that one worked...

[ll_billym]

I think that we have adverts bombarded at us almost every second of our waking lives (even if it is just a logo on a tin of beans). I think that to get a serious point across it has to affect us in a way that makes us actually stop and think about the message. This type of advertising, although they may disturb viewers is sadly necessary in out ever increasingly blase society. It is effective because it is offensive.

[enigma]

I'm all for shock tactics in advertising because I believe that society tends to take an out of sight out of mind attitude towards life's unpleasantries and it needs advertising of this nature sometimes to drive home to people the importance of the campaign in question. I found the Barnardo's advert with the baby with the cockroach in it's mouth and headlined "Not all children are born with a silver spoon in their mouth" to be shocking but very powerful and thought provoking. I do donate regularly to Barnardos and fully support them because they do such a worthwhile job. Why should they be silenced in alerting the public to the atrocities which sadly face many children not just in third world countries but sadly here in the UK too ? Similarly , I have been reduced to tears with drink driving/speeding adverts which feature children being knocked down. Wishy washy adverts make no or little impact on the viewer. Hard hitting adverts linger in our memory because they are often distasteful or upsetting. This is reality though and if it makes someone think twice then that can only be for the best. Too many lives are destroyed through reckless driving , drink drivers etc and it's about time we faced up to this. Why are people offended by anti-smoking adverts such as the one with fat pouring from the cigarette down the smoker's hands or the man dying in hospital from cancer with his family crying around him , wishing that he had never smoked ? It's a fact that there are no health benefits from smoking and it significantly increases your chances of developing respiratory illnesses , cancer , thrombosis etc. It never cease to amaze me when I hear people say things like "my gran lived to 70 and she smoked 70 a day". Whilst their gran might have been lucky to reach the ripe old age of 70 , not everyone is that lucky and she might even have lived a little longer if she hadn't puffed on the cancer sticks. Sorry , rant over. Phew , i'm glad I got that out of my system !

[Kay]

WELL SAID ENIGMA!!!