though this might generate lively debate..

Dave · Enlightened One

though this might generate lively debate..

Ambers Mo

I think it's pathetic! Surely they could have come up with a campaign which would not harm another charity. When cruelty is on the increase it seems to me to be almost an endorsement of the neglect and suffering of animals. And, of course there have been studies in America which link animal and child cruelty.

Just because I raise money for GAL doesn't mean that I'm heartless when it comes to putting money in other charities' collecting cans.

I try to give whenever I can - but this will make me more selective about where my cash goes in future.

To hit below the belt is unforgivable.

Joyce

-- Edited by Ambers Mo at 16:41, 2007-01-10

silverhippo · Master

I hope that they didn’t pay an ad agency a lot of money for the campaign as I have a feeling that it may backfire on them. I personally found the poster disturbing and incredibly demeaning. The picture and the tag line give me a feeling of horror. When passed around the very lad orientated office that I work in there were some very rude comments comparing the unfortunate lass to a dog in very uncomplimentary terms. Not I think what the charity has in mind.

I personally suffer from learning difficulties. I also worked as a volunteer for an organization that provided support to people who suffer from severe learning disorders and other mental disabilities. In that capacity I can only condemn the poster as the social stigma can be bad enough without giving people encouragement to be rude. I also think that such a poster would have put me off volunteering in that capacity.

Claire

Indiana · Guru

Any poster that cannot even use capitals correctly doesn't deserve comment.

Isla · Enlightened One

I'm inclined to agree with Claire in that I think this will generate the wrong kind of publicity. I think it's an extremely distasteful campaign and the fact that it will possibly have an adverse effect on other charities is definately below the belt (with Joyce on that one).

I would also like to say that, with the advent of Supporting People (whom I work for) agencies like Enable are receiving a good bit more funding than they were prior to that. The team I work for may only cover Argyll & Bute but Supporting People operate right across the country.

Poor show Enable!

Teresa · Enlightened One

I, personally, give to the charities of my choice and there is no way this campaign will make me feel guilty for giving to animal charities which, I presume, is their objective. I have absolutely no interest in childrens' charities or those championing the disabled. Of course, this is very un-PC, so sorry if it offends anyone.

My view is that children and people with disabilities should be cared and provided for by the monumental taxes that we pay to the government. The Social Services department could do far more if only they were organised and funded correctly.

No doubt my view will change if I have personal experience of abused kids and a disabled family member. After all, humans tend to support the cause closest to their heart !

How dare the ad agencies attempt to intimidate me with this very distasteful display !!!

Ramble over !

JENNY · Big Cheese

Obviously Enable are trying shock tactics to get our attention.

I'm not more likely to donate after seeing that. But then I mainly donate to animal charities anyway.

Many animal charities receive nothing from the government in terms of funding yet voluntary sector organisations such as enable can and do.

I think the posters are just undermining the status of their members in society which has taken years to get to where we are today rather than being locked in hospitals for their entire lives.

Not everyone is ready to take people with Learning Disabilities seriously despite the progress made so adverts like this will make a joke of the progress.

I work in mental health and have worked in learning disabilities services in the past and I really think they have missed the target with this one.

Ambers Mo

Lively debate! Dave you weren't wrong. I am not normally reactionary. However, I have sent the following email to Enable:

I would just like to say how distasteful I find your new campaign launched today.

Surely there could have been some other way of getting attention and support

for your charity. There is no need to try and take any support from any other

charity - be they animal or otherwise.

I do a lot of work raising money for dogs and also some voluntary work homing

them. This does not mean, however that I pass collecting cans for other charities.

But you can rest assured that any cash I may have put into Enable's coffers will

now be directed to animals!!!

You have done yourselves no favours. In fact you have demeaned the very people

you claim to care about.

Joyce MacDonald

-- Edited by Ambers Mo at 20:46, 2007-01-10

emma · Guru

I find the campaign absolutely repulsive. It is in total distaste and as the others state appears to be trying to redirect charity money away from animals. Those who give tend to give whatever the cause so I find it quite difficult to understand.

I am the last person who would be unsupportive of the mentally disabled as my son has moderate learning difficulties and behaviour problems. I also work with many children in local schools supplying counselling in a voluntry capacity.

Very strange, I find it a rather odd way to go about raising the profile of their charity. It is like the recent political campaigns of modern times where one party tries to rubbish the other side rather than telling us the public what positives they plan to bring. In my experience it usually backfires.

It certainly will not influance me

Em

Gail · Big Cheese

Not much more i can add other than to say i will give to the charity of my choice no matter what ad campaigns are being run, and i won't be bullied into changing that especially as i find the ad very demeaning.

Most people have their own special reasons for donating to certain charities and whereas i may not donate regularly to Enable (and i certainly won't now) I'm sure there is someone out there who would happily donate to them but not to an animal charity, and as far as i am concerned it's everyone to their own beliefs!!

I do give to childrens charities because i am grateful that my two boys are healthy, loved and well cared for and i wish all children were the same. I give regularly to cancer research because of family illness and knowing the distress this awful disease causes to the sufferer and their families, and i do what i can to support animal charities because of the abuse and suffering so many have to endure. Do i feel guilty for not giving to enable??? No i certainly do not because i give what i can when i can to help the charities that touch my heart. This world is full of suffering and we as individuals cannot give to everything even if we wanted to!!

Slippy · Old Hand

We support several charities and GAL is the only one of them which is animal related.

However, I find this poster of Enable's extremely distasteful. Apart from the fact that I feel it is inappropriate for one charity to try to get money by belittling other charities, I think it is very insulting to the client group whom they are trying to help. Surely people with special needs are entitled to be treated with respect and dignity. If this poster is typical of Enable's perspective of their clients, I wouldn't give them a penny. I think I'll e-mail them to that effect.

Sheila

Lorna · GAL Shop Co-Ordinator

Hi

This is a thoughtless, distasteful and inconsiderate advert.

From my point of view - having been GAL's sponsorship co-ordinator recently for the past 3 years, I know from first hand experience that many organisations will not consider making a grant to Animal charities - they state it in their list of exclusions regularly. From a database of several hundred charitable trust funds, around 50 or less give to Animal charities in their remit and even fewer of those to greyhound rescue.

It was also had work getting any favourable replies from funds who gave to "general charitable causes". .

It is hard enough getting the funds in for any organisation, without another slighting your efforts and cause. I have emailed a complaint to the advertising standards authority - and if you wish to do so here is the web link.

http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_complain/

Jennifer · Big Cheese

I think what cheeky b*******, its basically saying "dont donate to animal charities, donate to Enable". They must think they have a more worthy cause. I personally would always donate to an animal charity before i would donate to anywhere else. As said by other people, Goverment Grants and things are more readily available for people's charity's. I think thats so selfish of them and i think they will find themself with even less donations. I know now i would make a point of not donating to them!! Unbelieveable

I really hope animal charities do not suffer as a result of these awful adverts!!

- thanks for the link Lorna, i will be contacting them!

THERE ARE WAYS TO RAISE BRAND AWARENESS BUT TO BELITTLE OTHER CHARITIES IS JUST WRONG.

-- Edited by Jennifer at 10:21, 2007-01-11

-- Edited by Jennifer at 11:37, 2007-01-11

Slippy · Old Hand

If you want to complain directly to Enable, their e-mail address is

enable@enable.org.uk

I said that 1. I find the advert demeaning and offensive to the clients with special needs whom they supposedly serve and 2. I think it is pathetic if the only way a charity can campaign for funds is by belittling the efforts of other charities which do valuable work. No reply yet!!

Sheila

tootsmazza · Enlightened One

I think it is in extremely poor taste for one charity to try to boost its coffers by pinching donations from another cause in such a blatant manner.
One of the biggest animal charities the SSPCA already suffers from the RSPCA adverts on satellite channels which lead people to send money south without realising.
Personally I object to anyone trying to tell me where my donations should go and what I should care about.
I support a number of charities which help animals and people. At Christmas for example I donated to the Scottish Malawi Fund instead of buying presents and asked family and friends to make similar gestures. Do ENABLE think their recipients deserve more than children starving in the Third World as well?
I would also point out to ENABLE that while many disabled people and children suffer from ignorance of others I rarely ready stories about them being abandoned in freezing woodlands, tied up, starved and beaten or shot in the head for £10 simply because they are not going to make their owners money or are past their best - stories which are sadly becoming commonplace with animals.
Marie

Amanda · Master

Well they were trying to shock and have succeeded but not in the way they had hoped for. I was amazed that a charity would try to put others down to try and gain a few extra pounds.

I have emailed them, not a ranty mad woman email which I did feel like doing, but just pointing out this is going to back fire and put a lot of animal lovers backs up. With such a big advertising campaign I wouldn't be surprised if it makes a loss rather than the financial gain they were hoping for.

I wonder if Enable have forgotten what a huge part animals play in the lives of those with learning difficulties. I know a lot of children with special needs and have witnessed how much they get out of horse riding and having a relationship with a dog whether it be there own or one from such charities as pets as therapy.

-- Edited by Amanda at 12:48, 2007-01-11

yvonne · Master

I completely agree with everything that has been posted.

The advice that i would give to Enable is to to fire their promoter or sponorship adviser. They obviously are not working hard enough in their jobs if they are finding getting sponsorship that hard, that they have to be so abusive and agressive, not only to other charities but to the people who donate to them. Every charity has to work tirelessly for donations and sponsorship. This is no way to encourage people who dont donate to them. And as for using the picture of a young girl in a campaign like that, it's just beyond belief.

max · Enlightened One

I agree with everything said before me. The poster is in bad taste and demeaning of the girl in it. My reason for giving to animal charities is because they get no funding from other bodies and rely soley on donations and this campaign by Enable has not changed my opion. It is a sad day when one charity demeans any other.

Collins dictionary- Charity : love, kindness, disposition to think kindly of others, practical kindliness. Nora

E-mail sent to Enable Scotland

-- Edited by max at 18:34, 2007-01-11

Slippy · Old Hand

I got a response from the Advertising Standards Agency today. They say that they cannot take up my complaint because the materials (ie the BBC website) are editorial and not the actual poster. So if you are complaining to the ASA make sure you actually give a place where you saw one of the posters or ads.

They say in their letter "I would advise you however that we are currently considering similar objections to yours from people who have referred to the actual advertisements as and when they have appeared." So if any GAL member does see a poster or ad for real, then it would be good to add your voice to the complaints.

I basically said that 1. I found it demeaning to peole with learning difficulties to portray them in this way 2. I thought it was inappropriate for a charity to attempt to raise money by belittling other good causes.

Sheila

JENNY · Big Cheese

Great that you got a response and obviously the complaints are coming in already. I've still not seen a poster anywhere.

max · Enlightened One

ANSWER FROM ENABLE SCOTLAND :-

Thank you for your contribution to this very important debate. ENABLE Scotland wants it to be a thought provoking campaign and already we have received a large number of responses both for and against the campaign.

ENABLE Scotland wants children and adults with learning disability to be higher up the public agenda and this campaign is helping us to achieve that. Of course we respect everyone's right to donate to the cause of their choice.

Thank you for your comments which have been noted

Doreen Walkinshaw

Head of Fundraising and Marketing

ENABLE Scotland

0141 226 4541

doreen.walkinshaw@enable.org.uk

6th floor, 7 Buchanan Street

Glasgow

Amanda · Master

I got exactly the same response as Nora. I guess I wasn't expecting anything more from them..

Gail · Big Cheese

Yeah i got the same response too, obviously a bog standard e-mail to everyone no matter what the basis of your objection is......Wonder what the response would be if you e-mailed to say you thought it was a great campaign

max · Enlightened One

It would seem that it does not matter what people think of their campaign and that they are willing to lose some support as long as they get their point across and raise money from those who do not see the underhandedness of the slogan.

Nora

Sunny girl · Master

I've taken a while to answer this post as the poster made me so angry. I agree with everything that has been said so far but just wanted to add that I work for a childrens charity and over the past few years the money around for children with Disabilities has greatly increased. The difference with a Disability charity and an animal charity is that Children and Disability Charities can apply to the government, council, National Lottery, Children in Need and so on for grants and funding and so far every application we have put in has been granted. As far as I am aware Animal charities get no help from any of the these. So yes people might give more to animal charities but that is all the charities have, they have no grants or large donations from other agencies.

Only last week I turned DOWN funding for our Children with Disabilities fund as we have enough money in it and could not spend the funds in the allotted time. Dave could you ever imagine turning down funding?

Enable should be ashamed of this campaign its just not the way to raise support, in my opinion.

Landess

evilshiddenclaws · Old Hand

im sorry but i am not a people person, i do not wish harm on innocent people but i would much rather give to an animal charity.

animals cant speak for themselves.

this is just pathetic

PetrasDad · Graduate

I'm from south of the Border so am not familiar with Enable thank goodness.

Many of us would support every charity there is if our money stretched that far but in the real world we make our own decisions as to where the money is most needed.

My own reasoning is that as humans run the world (and what a mess it is) they are also capable of taking steps to ensure less well off human beings are catered for in financial terms with volunteers working alongside the finance provided. Humans are also the ultimate predator.

Thank God however that although animals may be low (or completely forgotten) in consideration by governments there are people like GAL supporters who do what they can to minimise the evils of man towards animals.
I do contribute to non animal charities but readily admit that most goes to animals. I do not think on this website I have to explain why.

For the record I support in a practical way Northants Greyhound Rescue, Wood Green Animal Shelters and Tailends and other animal charities with a little cash, which I imagine is very similar to what many readers of this forum do.

ps. If Enable does function down here I haven't come across them yet.