Monday, November 1, 2010

New British ME/CFS Print Ad


The British advocacy organization Action Now begins its new “Policy Change: NOW” campaign today.  The campaign, which will run for two weeks, was inspired by the “Time for Action” campaign started by three ME/CFS patients in the U.S.

The U.K. campaign dovetails with today’s demonstration at the Department of Health in London. Today marks the first day that British ME/CFS patients are banned from donating blood.

A spokesperson says that today’s protest was organized in response to the government position that there is no infectious pathogen associated with ME/CFS and that the British ban is in place for only one reason: to prevent patients’ health from getting worse. For more information on the campaign, click here.

Action Now has developed a foreboding two-color print ad campaign:
British.ad

26 comments:

  1. Wow, that ad is absolutely terrible.

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  2. Thank you for covering the campaign & demo in your blog mindy! Sufferers are uniting worldwide & realising how powerful we can be, there was no mainstream media reporting of either the blood ban or the demo as far as I am aware of but that is nothing new here in the uk. Our voices are getting louder & we should all be proud of all the efforts, encouraged & are joining forces worldwide more & more each day. X

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  3. I like the demo. Powerful Message asking a lot of uncomfortable but salient questions.

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  4. Yes, the ad is bad. It is unfocused, noisy, and not memorable.
    MCWPA is about to make the same mistake. More work needs to be done to focus the message.

    Say more with less.

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  5. Truly a brilliant ad! I'd forgotten about the 5% XMRV rate found in the Japanese blood supply. I hope our banked blood will be checked.

    I'll have to inquire of my political representatives.

    And what about my siblings that are still donating blood unrestrained? 50% of them have XMRV according to Cheney's study.

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  6. Agree that it is a terrible ad. The intentions were good, but what a visual mess.

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  7. Am agreeing totally with andrea. I think this ad is awful. Way too much information to read, not clear & concise at all & the others I've seen from the Mcwpa are even worse. Brilliant one from the uk that simply says' don't ban m.e cure m.e'.

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  8. The ad is a mess and awful. First of all if you know little to nothing about ME/CFS, which is a large, large the majority of the population, you will look at the ad and say what is "M.E". Also if you mention XMRV with no explanation and site no sources you will loose the rest of the five people that don't have ME/CFS and actually know what it is.

    I could go on and on but basically all this ad does is make people think we are more crazy then they already do.

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  9. Hire some pro's to do the ad..This is crap. So messy, where do I look? Surely made by someone with cognitive issues :)

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  10. Where does the 5% in Japanese blood come from? I read it was 1.7%.

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  11. Just to say that this ad isn't associated with the Action Now UK email campaign. We timed the email campaign so it ran alongside the demo and the start of the blood ban. I'm not entirely sure if this is the ad used for the London Demo either. I believe there was a newer version used.

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  12. Also wanted to clarify that Action Now and the London demonstration are two separate campaigns run by two different organisations.

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  13. Wasn't an Ad - full stop!!! Unfortunately misreporting is rife

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  14. There seems to be a little confusion, there is no advertising campaign at all associated with Action Now or the UK Policy Change daily email campaign. The image in question is a poster that was created by a sufferer in support of the UK blood ban demonstration and one that was later edited to correct a factual error.

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  15. Can you please correct this error, Mindy? The ad you have is not associated with the Action Now team nor is it a part of any sort of advertising campaign. It was made by a sufferer and posted on Facebook for others to use to promote the demo. I don't believe it was intended to be a professional ad. The current UK POLICY CHANGE: NOW campaign is purely an email campaign and not an ad campaign. I feel I have to point this out to you as the errors have remained on your site for a few days now. Thank you.

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  16. I’ve been informed by the source in England who sent the poster that she made a mistake, and this poster isn't going to be used. I’ll be posting the correct posters this week.

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  17. Anonoymous thinks this ad was surely made by someone with cognitive issues.

    I do not think that at all. But as most people suffering from ME do happen to have cognitive issues, this is a very cruel remark to make here.
    BK

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  18. The posters had to do with the "UK Blood Ban" Protest and Demonstrations which IS NOT the
    "Policy Change Now" email Campaign.. that was simply emails.. You are mixing Apples and oranges and attributing a poster to a demonstration. The email campaign didn't make a Poster but a Simple avatar that had an email/envelope gif in it.

    Please check post #92 on my blog ~ Thx
    http://standUP2ME.blogspot.com

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  19. OK anonymous you donn't like the ad. Fair enough.
    To say it must have been made by someone with cognitive issues is a very cruel remark to make here. Most ME sufferers have cognitive issues as you must know.
    BK

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  20. I'm not mixing anything. The poster was sent to CFS Central by someone involved with the campaign. She made the error. Mistakes happen, and, thankfully, life goes on.

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  21. Andrea Martell, 2 November, said...
    "Yes, the ad is bad. It is unfocused, noisy, and not memorable.
    MCWPA is about to make the same mistake. More work needs to be done to focus the message.
    Say more with less."

    Fully agree with Andrea. Thankfully this 'ad' seems to have been a poster at the brilliant London protest (well done, PWME in London!), not a print advert after all.

    But the MCWPA adverts are much worse, and about to go live, at the staggering cost of over $8000? I hid my head in sorrow after seeing them. I'm another former design professional (long out of work and disabled from years of ME). The MCWPA ads are embarrassingly amateurish and awful.

    I didn't have the heart to criticise them on MCWPA's website - and didn't have the mental stamina or energy to compose a critique, even if I'd wanted to. I'm too ill to help with the campaign, too ill to make any positive contribution to the team effort, so felt like I've no right to speak up - but Andrea's honest comment here gives me courage tonight.

    I don't have a speck of the huge amount of clear-headedness and mental/physical energy it would take to explain to the MCWPA group why their 5 draft ads are *all* visually and verbally terrible, much less redesign or rewrite any of them myself - I'm just too ill.

    But please, please, all of you good MCWPA people who have worked so hard on the advert campaign with the best of intentions - PLEASE FIND AN ADVERTISING OR DESIGN PROFESSIONAL ASAP to fix your ad campaign immediately. Before you spend the enormous sums of $8000 at the Washington Post - a sum of money that I am certain WPI could put to excellent use.

    I know you mean well, but the 5 sample ads I saw on your website are bad, bad, bad design, unprofessional in visual design, in copywriting, in execution, muddled in conception, and make our community look like amateurish fools. It is also almost criminal to spend over $8000 in donations from desperately poor patients on such dreadful creations. I can guarantee that no one in any position of power and influence anywhere will take an advert seriously if it looks and reads like any of the 5 ad samples on your website.

    PLEASE I urge the good people at MCWPA in very strongest terms to stop their planned publication of one of these dreadful creations and go back to the drawing board - with a professional designer, who is healthy and clear-headed and not hobbled by this disease like we are, to redesign and rewrite a proper, professional advertisement for our community.

    It is also very difficult to figure out how to navigate the MCWPA website, a different matter. I cannot even figure out how to post on the MCWPA forum. Hint, please make participation in your discussion as easy as posting on Mindy's blog!

    Thanks, Mindy, for allowing me to say this on your blogsite. Will go and crash now because writing these few comments here has wiped me out...

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  22. Anonymous.. it seems you had the clarity to post a full thought here ? Would have served the cause better if you posted on the MCWPS forum so they could read it.. Sorry that you didn't help them directly.

    sorry @Mindy~ I meant it would be mixing apples and oranges.. I didn't mean to say "you."
    brain fog does that after an exhausting day of demonstration coverage...

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  23. I have severe ME and I do agree with anonymous, if the advert is going to have input then it does need to be very well designed and most of us just dont have the skills needed, its not our fault its just one of those things, I also agree it may be worth getting advice from a pro, its not a negative comment on the people wanting to do the campaign its just the desire to get the job done right
    Jay

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  24. Ashe Cantor (Father of twin 15 year olds w/ CFS)November 18, 2010 at 6:22 AM

    Anon should have provided clear, concise input into those adverts when asked repeatedly by this group of people - many who were long-time professionals in PR, graphic design, and journalism pre-illness. Where was this valuable input from a "former design professional" when it was asked for? It seems that those cognitive issues aren't bothering the "former design professional" now.

    Anon's comments are a simple smear job by someone who did nothing of value but instead took cheap shots at those that have done a great deal to help the ME/CFS sick and others get the attention of the media and public for funding, research, clinical trials, AV meds available, and in alerting the researchers and physicians about ME/CFS and the Retrovirus family.

    Cowardly to smear and not post one's name. All very curious and does force one to wonder about the validity of those rather vague and useless comments.

    Does Anon really care about the ME/CFS sick and the media campaign that finally spreads the information on the ME/CFS issues or is Anon out to damage the ME/CFS cause?

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  25. i cannot understand how when they say patients get worse when they donate blood...i feel great everytime i donate blood...i get rid of the old viruses and ciguetera (epitope) toxins and do i feel good after...me,i will continue to donate my blood...what's the worse that can happen? i give somebody some c.b.t. i am sure a little exercise will do them good anyway and if that does not work all they have to do is then go and see simon 'the weasle' wessely and he will cure them...oh! did any of you get an invite to wessely and white's wedding...that is right the 2 boyfriends are tying the knot in august...i wish them both a wonderful honeymoon...may i suggest a warm place for 2 in barbados and have the fish, it is full of ciguetera...i know because that is where i contracted cfs from on my honeymoon...sincerely aidan walsh southampton, u.k.

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  26. i can recall years ago in montreal at the start of the aids epidemic and there was a commercial on t.v. and a woman standing in front of the mirror and the ad said this 'if you want to know what hiv looks like, look in the mirror'... which meant you can look well but carry hiv and not know you are positive...sincerely aidan walsh southampton, u.k.

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