Aap! - Alternative Advertising Possibilities

From Adrants we learned of the following anti-drowning campaign by Australia’s Watch Around Water NGO. The organization is placing images of drowned children at the bottom of swimming pools. While its definitely eye catching and creative - I’m worried about THE annoyance this might cause for passing individuals? Will they jump in to save the child?

Or as the Adrants editor points “At some point we figure people are going to catch onto this whole fake-dead-people-as-props trend, and when they do they’ll come across some real dead people and scoff. Then what are we going to do? Say “I’m sorry”?”

While definitely creative and daring, the advert is tasteless and intrusive? Worse - what will that true little boy think? Is he traumatized, did he learn his lesson? Has this advert saved any children?
I hope not for the sake of children world wide.

Related information from Wikipedia on drowning…

In many countries, drowning is one of the leading causes of death for children under 14 years old. The rate of drowning in populations around the world varies widely according to their access to water, the climate and the national swimming culture. For example, typically the United Kingdom suffers 450 drownings per annum or 1 per 150,000 of population whereas the United States suffers 6,500 drownings or around 1 per 50,000 of population. Drowning related injuries are the fifth most likely cause of accidental death in the US. In some regions, drowning is the second most likely cause of injury and death for children after car accidents. The rate of near drowning incidents is unknown. Victims are more likely to be male, young or adolescent. Surveys indicate that 10% of children under 5 have experienced a situation with a high risk of drowning. The causes of drowning cases in the US are as follows:

• ^{44% are related to swimming}
• ^{17% are related to boating}
• ^{14% are unattributed}
• ^{10% related to scuba diving}
• ^{7% related to car accidents}

More importantLy - here is what parents can do to prevent drownings>

From Safe Kids Canada

Stay with young children at all times when they are near water or in water.

Young children most often drown in these water hazards:

* home swimming pools
* bathtubs
* rivers and lakes
* hot tubs, ditches, ponds, sewage lagoons, canals

Safety check

* Always stay right beside your child (under age 5) when he or she is in the water or close to water. This includes the bathtub. Make sure you can see your child at all times. Do not leave him or her alone, not even for a few seconds.
* If there is a water hazard nearby, do not leave your child (under age 5) in the care of an older child without adult supervision.
* If you have a swimming pool, make sure it is properly fenced in and has a gate that closes and latches by itself (called a self-closing, self-latching gate).

For more on preventing drowning

Exhibition: 7 November – 8 December 2006, The Reg Vardy Gallery, Sunderland

The International Flipbook Festival will be touring to Space 1026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Little Cakes Gallery in New York City; Western Front Gallery in Vancouver, Canada. Currently the exhibition is at: The Reg Vardy Gallery - School of Arts, Design, Media & Culture, University of Sunderland, Ashburne House, Ryhope Road, Sunderland, SR2 7EF

What’s the relation to Aap!Global you might ask? - Well in essence our platform MetroVISTA is a giant electronic flipBook!