Exploiting the mentally ill
published: Friday | April 4, 2003
THE EDITOR, Sir:
HAVE YOU seen that Singer ad? The furniture retailer Singer Sewing Machine Co. has an advertisement on prime time TV portraying a mentally ill patient tied up in a strait jacket and raving incoherently about price reductions.
The ad is worse than tasteless. It is cruel, callous and exploitative of one of the most helpless groups of citizens. At a time when the government is embarking on an expensive public education campaign to de-stigmatise mental illness, this ad reinforces the prevailing negative attitudes and is doing a grievous disservice to Jamaican society.
This is truly the ugly face of capitalism. Moral guidelines are being discarded in the fierce competition for market share. Singer should be ashamed. On behalf of the thousands who cannot speak for themselves, Jamaicans should demand nothing less than a public apology from Singer, the ad company and the particular TV station.
