Posters designed purely to show power of outdoor advertising sparked fury on Mumsnet website
The posters on the sides of buses proclaiming in giant letters "Career women make bad mothers" were intended to attract attention - and they certainly did.
The campaign, designed to promote the effectiveness of outdoor advertising, has now been junked after hundreds of women posted their rage, contempt and hurt on the Mumsnet website. One wrote: “The one on the side of a building today felt like a kick in the stomach.”
The Outdoor Advertising Association had intended the posters to run for a fortnight on buses and billboard sites. Justine Roberts, Mumsnet co-founder, said: “Mumsnetters thought the campaign to be ill-conceived, crass and stupid.”
The posters were designed by the Beta agency, where the strategy head, Sharon Johnson, said they were intended to spark a debate, and did not represent the opinion of the agency or the campaign organisers. But, rather than cause further offence, the decision had been taken to replace the posters.
The new versions will risk outraging football fans, rubbing salt in the wounds over England's World Cup hopes with “1966. It won't happen this year”.
Many advertisers have been accused of courting the publicity that follows a campaign ban. In October the animal rights group Peta had a poster advocating vegetarianism banned. It had a background of repeated words - Swine Flu, Mad Cow, E Coli, and MRSA - and, in big letters, Meat Kills.
