Wall Street Journal Health Blog Coverage of ASAN's Response to the NYU Ransom Notes Campaign

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December 14, 2007, 10:11 am

Ads About Kids' Mental Health Problems Draw Fire Posted by Shirley S. Wang

New York University's Child Study Center wanted a provocative new

campaign<http://www.aboutourkids.org/files/news/press_room/assets/ransom_notes_r\

elease.pdf>to

raise awareness about childhood mental health disorders. Well, it got

one, and now NYU's learning that there's a fine line between

attention-grabbing and offensive.

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center's new ad campaign, which began last week, uses images of ransom notes

(click on the image to see a larger version) to drive home the message that

12 million children are being held hostage by mental health problems, such

as depression and autism.

But almost immediately, the Autistic Self Advocacy

Network<http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/>,

an advocacy group for people with autism-spectrum disorders, took offense to

the ads, calling them stigmatizing and inaccurate. The autism note, for

instance, implies that children with autism have no social skills and are

doomed to social isolation, Ari Ne'eman, ASAN president, tels the Health

Blog. " It's not only not true, it's a slap in the face to many people with

disability, " he says.

On Tuesday, the group sent the NYU center and the campaign's ad agency, BBDO

New York, a letter of

complaint<http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/documents/nyu-response/JointLetter-12-\

11-07.pdf>signed

by 13 local and national advocacy organizations. More groups came

forward yesterday to join in the effort after hearing about it, Ne'eman

said.

" Obviously we want to raise awareness and ensure that more children with

disabilities do have the opportunity to be diagnosed and receive the

appropriate services and support, " says Ne'eman. " This campaign will have

the opposite effect. "

The backlash from patient groups was surprising and unexpected, says Harold

Koplewicz, director of the NYU's Child Study Center. " We did examine that

issue very carefully " after getting complaints, he says, consulting with

colleagues and psychiatric organizations.

However, he is pleased with the attention generated by the ads so far.

Traffic on the center's Web site to the disorders featured in the ad

campaign have nearly doubled in the last 10 days, he says. NYU has no

plans<http://www.aboutourkids.org/about_us/public_awareness>to stop

the campaign.

The ransom note ads, created free by BBDO, will be plastered on telephone

kiosks, construction site walls and billboards in New York City for at least

the next month, as well as in several magazines with regional reach. Each

ransom note contains a link to the NYU Child Study Center Web

site<http://www.aboutourkids.org/>at the bottom, which contains

information about the problems and treatment

resources available across the country.

*Health Blog Question of the Day:* Are NYU's ads on point or over the line?

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