Ethical issues in pro-social advertising: the Australian 2006 White Ribbon Day campaign.

This article discusses the ethical issues presented by the violent imagery used in the Australian White Ribbon Day campaign, which was designed to raise awareness about violence against women. These advertisements, which were designed by the advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, depicted fathers in situations where they were being eaten by sharks, having limbs amputated, or being run over by buses. The depiction of what many viewers took to be suicide and self-harm in advertisements encouraging fathers to participate in the campaign was criticized by mental health advocates. The authors test this hypothesis with an experiment that measures audience responses to the advertisements.