Thursday March 28th, 2024
Download SceneNow app
Copied

Advertising Abuse

Fundacion ANAR's child abuse campaign has the online world raving, but is it really that smart?

Staff Writer

Okay so everyone on the interwebz seems to be going crazy over this advertisement board created by a Spanish organisation called Fundacion ANAR which campaigns against child abuse. The advert only allows children under ten to see the message which reads: "If somebody hurts you, call us and we'll help you,” whilst the message for adults reads: "Sometimes, child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it." This is done by lenticular photography which allows companies create an image in a way that lets viewers see one of several different photos with specially angled veneers.

I know about this because everyone is posting it in on Facebook and Twitter along with captions that go along the line of “Oh amazing initiative,” “Ingenious!” and “So smart!” as people's first venture into lazy philanthropy... But is it? Is it really an amazing, ingenious, smart, innovative idea? It seems pretty damn elaborate to be honest. For starters, surely that huge budget to be able to afford such technology, as well as the video and ad campaign surrounding it, would be better spent on actually helping children through, I don't know, shelters, foster homes, adoption programs and parental education?  In fact, that money might as well have been spent on Facebook ads for their phone line.

With the online furor around the secret message advert secretly giving a message to kids, it's definitely more likely that these angry, child-beating parents will catch on first before the kids do. Check out where they’ve decided to place the advert: on a busy high-end, high-street. What sick parent beats their children half to death (probably with a shoe) and then takes them to Hush Puppies?

Secondly, it's stated that the boards were made so that the average height of a child under 10 can see the message. What about big kids? Surely obese children need more protection, if anything.

I may sound very cynical. Of course the organisations intentions are great and I’m sure they do a lot of good work – don’t be stupid, I'm obviously against the abuse of children, really, I am, and if you don't believe me I'll beat you – I'm just tired of people mindlessly jumping on the viral bandwagon without really thinking about it first. This Fundacion ANAR project is the Kony of the advertisement world. Remember him? The African dictator who caused Facebook uproar after reportedly slaughtering hundreds of children in Uganda when… Oh shit, sorry, SORRY bad example.

Anyways, keep an eye out for our CairoScene.com branded Aston Martin around town, using James Bond technology to make it completely invisible to those who lack sarcasm and hate CairoScene.com.