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By John Glenday, Reporter

August 23, 2017 | 2 min read

Baby care provider Pampers has been forced to rethink an emotionally charged campaign centred on premature delivery after complaints from some viewers that it was simply too much to bear.

Devised by Saatchi & Saatchi and introduced earlier this year, the spot had split opinions between those who regarded it as a heartfelt and moving watch and those, including some who had suffered the loss of their own premature babies, who felt it was too upsetting.

60 complaints were received by the Advertising Standards Authority with particular concern raised by the choice of musical accompaniment ‘I’m Coming Home’ by Chanele McGuinness, from those who knew their own children would never do so.

Others voiced dismay at piggybacking on such sensitive moments in order to sell a product.

In response to these issues Pampers has now removed the contentious song lyrics from its commercial and also taken the opportunity to raise awareness of its charitable work in aid of premature and sick babies as well as their families.

A Pampers spokesperson said: “Through our ongoing conversations with parents and neonatal nurses alike, we learnt there were no appropriately-sized nappies so Pampers designed our smallest nappy ever which was created for the unique needs of preemies.

“To raise awareness, we decided to highlight this in our latest TV advert. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, but we do understand that for some families the advert may be difficult to watch.”

The ad was conceived to promote the Preemie Protection Size P3, the smallest nappy ever devised by Pampers, of which 3m will be donated to neonatal units around the country.

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