One can definitely state that not always do the means justify the end. Creating an awareness among children to a more careful lifestyle toward energy saving is certainly a noble objective, but why do this by frightening them to the point to create nightmares for them?
The question reached the British Parliament. Thousands of parents of British children are protesting for a commercial commissioned by a government agency and aired on national TV for the past ten days. This news reached also the attention of the foreign press, reported by “Notizie tra le linee”, the magazine of one of the major Italian energy operators.
The video – which can also be viewed on Youtube and in the website www.decc.gov.uk named Act on Co2 bedtime stories tv – shows an attentive father reading a bedtime story to his sweet little 2 year-old daughter. The musical background is very gentle, creating a peaceful atmosphere of sweet dreams. The father begins reading and turning the pages of the story illustrated with cartoons. The blue-eyed, blond-haired child listens attentively, but her dreamy expression is soon transformed: from a peaceful look, she becomes frightened. Her father is showing her little bunny rabbits that are crying and drowning owing to the rise in the ocean levels, skies with menacing black clouds shaped like monsters ready to eat houses.
With the incommensurable trust typical of all children, the child asks her father: “Will there be a happy ending?” As the cameras “leave” the child’s bedroom, the reply is given by a woman’s voice off-screen: “It depends on our actions”.
Both parents and psychologists believe this is too strong: having small children carry such a heavy burden is harmful to their balanced growth and development. The government included this commercial within a six million pound campaign launched by the Minister of Energy and Climate Change and is now receiving an increasing number of requests to immediately withdraw it from the shocking television campaign.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Write a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.