New York Times Coverage of ASAN's Response to the NYU Ransom Notes Campaign

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[image: The New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/>

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December 14, 2007

Advertising

Campaign on Childhood Mental Illness Succeeds at Being Provocative By

JOANNE KAUFMAN

We have your son. We will make sure he will no longer be able to care for

himself or interact socially as long as he lives.

—

Autism<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/autism/overview.html?inli\

ne=nyt-classifier>

SO reads one of the six " ransom notes " that make up a provocative public

service campaign introduced this week by the New York

University<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/n\

ew_york_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Child

Study Center to raise awareness of what Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, the

center's founder and director, called " the silent public health epidemic of

children's mental illness. "

Produced pro bono by BBDO, an Omnicom agency that worked on two previous

campaigns for the Child Study Center, the campaign features scrawled and

typed communiqués as well as simulations of classic ransom notes, composed

of words clipped from a newspaper.

In addition to autism, there are ominous threats concerning

depression<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/depression/overview.\

html?inline=nyt-classifier>,

obsessive-compulsive

disorder<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/obsessive-compulsive-di\

sorder/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>,

attention-deficit

hyperactivity<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/hyperactivity/ove\

rview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>disorder,

Asperger's syndrome and

bulimia<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/bulimia/overview.html?in\

line=nyt-classifier>.

The campaign's overarching theme is that 12 million children " are held

hostage by a psychiatric disorder. "

The public service announcements began running this week in New York

magazine and Newsweek as well as on kiosks, billboards and construction

sites around New York City.

" Children's mental disorders are truly the last great public health problem

that has been left unaddressed, " said Dr. Koplewicz, adding: " It's like with

AIDS<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/aids/overview.html?inline=n\

yt-classifier>.

Everyone needs to be concerned and informed. "

In some quarters, however, the campaign has raised hackles as much as

awareness. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network<http://www.autisticadvocacy.org>,

a national grass-roots organization of children and adults, is circulating a

petition asking the Child Study Center to end the campaign.

a Chew, founder of the blog Autism Vox <http://www.autismvox.com/>,

which has a link to the petition, says that " the reaction has been mostly

outrage from parents of special-needs children, autistic adults, teachers,

disability rights advocates and mental

health<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopi\

cs/mentalhealthanddisorders/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>professionals. "

" It's rallied them around one issue, and these aren't people who normally

agree about treating autism, " said Ms. Chew, who lives in Bernards Township,

N.J., and has a 10-year-old son with autism. She says her blog attracts

3,000 to 4,000 visitors a day; traffic is up a third since the campaign was

introduced, she said.

" It emphasizes a lot of negative aspects, " she said. " To say that autism or

bulimia has kidnapped a child suggests that these conditions are part of a

criminal element. I'm not saying it's easy to have an autistic child, but it

could be framed in a more positive way. "

Vicki Forman, an adjunct professor of creative writing at the University of

Southern

California<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/u\

niversity_of_southern_california/index.html?inline=nyt-org>whose

7-year-old son is blind and nonverbal, learned about the campaign on

Ms. Chew's blog and said it made her distraught. " The idea of an autistic

person being held hostage is a very disturbing and backward image, " she

said. " Rather than promote public awareness, this reinforces stereotypes —

that there is something damaged about the autistic person, something in need

of a repair. "

According to Dr. Koplewicz, the campaign was inspired by filmed

conversations of parents and children talking about life with a psychiatric

disorder. " These families felt their children were trapped by their

disorders, " he said.

Osborn, the president and chief executive of BBDO New York, said the

effort was intended to increase the sense of urgency about the diseases and

encourage conversation. " It's tricky because there are a lot of messages in

the air, particularly at holiday time. That makes it a challenge to cut

through the clutter. "

BBDO's earlier ads for the Child Study Center — which included images of a

child running happily through a sprinkler and a drawing of a child caught in

a maze — " were wonderful, but they didn't get this kind of attention from

anyone, " Dr. Koplewicz said. " They were too pleasant and innocuous. That's

the reason we decided to go along with BBDO. "

He was further emboldened, he said, by the reaction of focus groups of women

whose children have the disorders mentioned in the ads. " Everyone who

participated felt the ads were informative, " he said. " While we knew the

campaign was edgy and we knew it would be harsh and upsetting, the facts of

mental illness are even more upsetting.

" I am disappointed. I thought the people we'd be arguing with are the people

who believe psychiatric illness doesn't exist " or those who believe children

are being overmedicated, he said.

" I thought we'd be fighting ignorance. I didn't think we'd be fighting adult

patients or the parents of patients whose feelings have been hurt. "

Etlinger of San Francisco is one such parent, but she maintains that

hers is " not the P.C. outcry of an offended parent. "

" It's a legitimate claim that children with disabilities are vulnerable

enough as it is, " said Ms. Etlinger, whose 4-year-old son has mild autism.

" I think we need to take special care that they're not further stigmatized.

This campaign characterizes them as a series of symptoms rather than as the

unique people they are. "

L. Leventhal, a professor of

psychiatry<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealth\

topics/psychiatry_and_psychiatrists/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>at

the University

of

Illinois<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/uni\

versity_of_illinois/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Medical

Center in Chicago, said he understood the parents' dismay. " We live

in a world where people are still defensive about having a psychiatric

illness or having a child with psychiatric illnesses, " he said. " But I think

it's a very bold campaign. I think the ads speak to the point that these are

real diseases and if you don't do something they can consume your child. "

Dr. Koplewicz said he had not considered jettisoning the campaign, but there

was some discussion about dropping its two most controversial components:

the autism and Asperger's ads.

He decided to retain the ads after conferring with colleagues whose

attitude, he said, " was that some people would be upset but that we should

stick with it and ride out the storm. "

" We're going to see how it goes in New York, " Dr. Koplewicz said. " If it

goes well, we're going to go to four other cities. "