Bowing to outraged patient advocates, NYU Child Study Centersaid it will halt its controversial print and outdoor ads aimed at raisingawareness of mental health problems in kids.
The ads, produced pro-bono by BBDO, take the form of ransomnotes from a range of psychiatric disorders including autism, ADHD, Aspergersyndrome, depression, bulimia and obsessive compulsive disorder. Patient groupssaid the ads, which appeared in regional publications and billboards, kiosksand construction sites around New York, reinforced damaging stereotypes,wrongly suggesting that children with autism and other psychiatric disordersare helpless and incapable of functioning in society.
The NYU Child Study Center’s director, HaroldKoplewicz, MD, said in a statement that while the ads got people’s attention,they’d become a distraction from the issues they were meant to raise awarenessof.
From the February 01, 2008 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
