Seasoned Readers here know that I am a sucker for great Marketing. I have been known to purchase a certain Diet Soda just about exclusively because they run a Reward program that involves Codes that I put in My account and I can get free stuff. Or, the Easter Posts about the number of Cadbury creme eggs that I ate because you can only get them near Easter time. I like smart advertising, where the marketing people have done their research or have a ground breaking creative advertisement. Sometime low-brow humor has some merit.

And I don’t necessarily like to bring up poor advertising because it can spread like the plague, bad press can act more quickly than good press. However, there are somethings that need to be stopped as soon as possible. It’s just the nature of the world I guess. So, I am linking to My Lovely and Talented Wife’s post about a blog entry at AutismVox on the NYU ad campaign.

If you’re a social advocate, I would encourage you to check out the posts and the method that NYU is using to raise awareness of “untreated psychiatric disorders,” including autism, Asperger Syndrome, bulimia, depression, ADHD, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Basically, these disorders have become kidnappers and have stolen the lives of children and their families. Hmmm… if that is true, then we just need to give enough money and it will go away. That’s what a kidnapper is really after… money. The kid is just leverage.

The ads are suggesting that Asperger’s will make a child become a social recluse who will live an unfulfilled life. Perhaps, but I have to argue that ANY child could find that same fate, it’s all how that child is nurtured. You hear about the stories of the children coming out of the poverty of the inner cities to great wealth and fortune because their parents or some other role model nurtured them. Or what about the super rich kid that has everything in the world, but becomes a drug addict because they are trying to find acceptance.

These ads are confusing because when a child is kidnapped, they are missing. There is no indication of the child’s health except through communication of the kidnapper. However, with Aspergers and other disorders, the child isn’t lost. They aren’t locked up, they are able to experience their world in their own terms. And better yet, the parents or other role models can nurture them. Asperger’s never kidnapped me and left me with the inability to live a successful live.

So, the ad campaign just has some bad marketing, that’s all. There’s an online petition to request that this advertisement is stopped. Perhaps NYU needs to outsource their marketing campaign to the Beer Companies, they do a damn good job.