It was an accident.

This will be our little secret.

Cool off a bit. See you in the morning.

Do you suspect child abuse? Check whatcanido.nl

It is fair to say we have all seen a lot of ads for prevention of child abuse and child protection lately. Usually (and unfortunately) they portray crying or screaming childen with frightened little faces, tears rolling down their darling cheeks, maybe a bruise here or there, and  some copy that suggests we should all pay more attention to any warning signs (because we always ignore it when we see a child this distressed).

These ads use text rather than imagery and, I believe, far more effectively get the message across without upsetting us too much, or at least too blatantly (there is nothing subtle about a screaming child). The problems with the usual ads is that they make us think about something that is so upsetting we would rather imagine that things like that just don’t happen. And I don’t want to be left wondering who made the child in the ad cry and how (like in this ad, for example).

These ads make sense, and that’s all they need to do. They can take us a little bit away from the immediate awfulness of child abuse. They are suggestive enough to be obvious, but they aren’t an attempt to gain sympathy or evoke too many emotions.

Anyway, now that I have commented on the ad, I would just like to mention how strange I find it that the Dutch Government have combined Health, Welfare and Sport into one grand Ministry. This is either really stupid, or really clever. I am not sure… maybe it is just because of the context of these ads that I find it strange…

Advertising Agency: ComBat, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Creative Directors: Anilda da Cruz, Ruud van Esch
Art Director: Anilda da Cruz
Copywriter: Ruud van Esch
Photographer: Josie Sykes, Suburbia
Digital Artist: Nick Strong, Cheap-n-Nasty

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