The present Heart Foundation advert has the "baby " saying that it may be given a rubbish name when born, i.e. Maisie, Rose or Pauline, I think this is an insult to any of us who have those names ( I have one of them !!) Any comments from any Rose's or Maisie's ?
I think it's rude to be rude about people's names, someone once said my name is 'chavvy' simply because its unusual ( it' actually a very old Egyptian name but not commonly heard here), but really don't let it bother you. It simply shows their lack of manners and it's just an opinion, we all have names we like and names we don't.
alienating or upsetting a proportion of your audience seems like a particularly stupid thing to do when it is unnecessary - it's not difficult to think of several 'creative' alternatives to the name reference.
Particularly when the main demographic for charity donations is still 'women of a certain age' who, if not called those names, or not related to one, will simply think it 'rude'
I think it's a failed and thoughtless attempt at humour by the ad agency, any names they picked would upset somebody. Actually I know of a few young Maisies and Roses but Pauline, a common name when I was at school, seems to be on the wane.