There is a new poster child for the shock advert. Her name is Emma, she's seven and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) would like to apologise to her. Judging from her picture, Emma deserves an apology; she has sad, swollen eyes, a brave-little-soldier smile and a six-inch red scar that runs across her chest, a lasting legacy of her heart surgery.
Although it is plausible that the BHF could be saying sorry to Emma (actually a model) for the hand fate has dealt her, it is, in fact, apologising for the 1:12,000 ratio of specialist heart nurses to patients. While the campaign (bhf.org.uk ) is undoubtedly important, do ads like these really work? Does guilt always translate into the desired outcome, be it increased sales, donations or awareness?
Absolutely, says Betty McBride, the BHF's director of policy and communication. "Last year, our nurses' campaign was much lower key. It was narrative-led and had a lovely picture of a nurse working with a child. I'm proud of that advert, but did it drive website traffic up 400% like 'Sorry Emma' has? No. Trust me, no one rang me to talk about that advert."
A spokesman for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) admits that its ombudsmen are more lenient with charities than commercial concerns. "If an advertiser is using an image for shock value we'll be more likely to take action. In the case of a charity trying to communicate a serious message, they might have more leeway."
But shock tactics don't always work. While a previous BHF campaign featuring a fatty cigarette doubled attendances and quit rates at smoking cessation clinics, another in 2002, featuring a woman with a plastic bag over her head, was banned by the ASA due to concerns about "emulation".
Marina Polumba, from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, doesn't think you can go too far. "The evidence is that the most effective campaigns in the charity genre are those that shock." But McBride is confident that the ads are suitable. "Our adverts are not as cosy and comfortable as some others, but we're not dealing with the Oxo family, we're dealing with a world where people get sick and people have needs."
