Is it ever right to make marketing mileage out of a tragedy?
That was the question that sprang to mind today when the BBC reported criticism of an advert for the charity CALM (left), which contrasts the universal awareness of the London July 7 suicide bombers with the lack of awareness of hundreds of young men who kill themselves every year.
I imagine - hope - that CALM debated at length whether it was right to base a suicide awareness campaign on the carnage of July 7. I think they've got it badly wrong. There are times when it's right to be hard-hitting and provocative: the Government's drink drive campaign has used far more graphic images in recent years. But these ads are designed to prevent a repeat of the scenes portrayed - very different from CALM's campaign.
CALM's ad encourages us to treat with sensitivity people under huge pressure, and to help them before they consider suicide. Yet it ignores the upset seeing the image of the bombed bus will have on those traumatised by the events of that terrible day.
One of the July 7 survivors rightly told the BBC the London bombers didn't kill themselves because they were under pressure. They did so to kill and main as many innocent people as possible.
CALM's cause is important and valuable. But on this occasion they've blundered.
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