A letter to marketing depts.

[Thomcat]

I can see where I get it from now!!!!
my mum just sent me this draft leeter that she intends to send off to Pampers, Mini Boden and so on......

I am writing this as the grandmother of two-year old Charlotte - a social, bright and joyful child. As it happens, she is also very pretty with huge grey eyes and a delightful smile. Oh, and by the way she happens to have Down?s syndrome.
The advertising used by your company, both through the media and T.V, is obviously child-orientated because of your particular product. Yet I have never seen a child with ?special needs? portrayed in your advertising. No sign of a child with glasses, a child wearing a hearing-aid ? or a child with Down?s syndrome.
Could this be because your marketing department perceive that only children without special needs are ?perfect?. Do you think, maybe, that the public might be shocked at seeing a beautiful baby or child with Down?s syndrome facial features in their magazines or on their TV screens?
To press my point, I?m attaching a picture of our Lottie, not because I, or her parents, are angling for her to be ?chosen? as a child model. No, my motive for writing is to promote children with special needs ? to point out to the advertising departments that there are many gorgeous kids out there ? yes, they may wear glasses, they may have a limp, they may wear a hearing aid. But so what? My tiny mission, if you like, is to draw to the attention of you manufacturers that there is discrimination lurking out there ? there?s unfairness being shown to thousands of little ones such as Lottie.
This was a subject I would never have thought about until she touched our lives.
And now she has, I feel a strong need to ensure she, and others like her, get a fair deal.
Come on advertising and marketing departments ? show me I?m wrong and I?m just being cynical. I?d love to hear your views.

I wish my mum/MIL etc wanted to fight our cause!! What a star!!!

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thomcat - YOU GO GIRL (well your mum anyway)

i totally agree with everything in that letter - because our children are different doesn't mean they don't use these products.

I love to hear the outcome of this so keep us posted.

Go granny!

Great letter!

Your comments are so supportive and lovely that I'm going to email them to my mum, she'll be SO pleased with the things you've said, as well as find it very interesting.
I will of course let you know any outcome.

I emailed your comments to my mum and just wanted you to know aht she said.....

Thanks for the feedback ? what a fantastic lot of mums there are out there to offer support and friendship, so glad you ?found them?. Their response has made me even more determined. I?m not sure whether to use e mail ? or scan the Lottie photo onto my letter and send it. It?s quite difficult to target the right person by e mail ? because it?s likely not to get sent on and just might sit in the ?wrong person?s e mail?. It might be worth the effort of phoning ? getting the name of the right person ? and sending a personalised letter to them.

I also intend to copy the letter and photo to the Richard and Judy show ? and also my favourite LBC phone-in show to Nick Ferrari, the presenter, who is quite outspoken and loves ?causes?.

what a lovely mum you have thomcat

I do know someone with special needs who is a model though! She is 13 and is on the autistic spectrum, she is so beautiful and loves having her pictures taken. Maybe we should all write letters with our pretty/handsome kids attached

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What a great mum you've got, TC.

Like Blu says, we don't get images of disabled people, so we don't think of disability as 'the norm', so we don't get images of disabled people...et bloody cetera round and round.

I'll go back to doing the RNIB mag now!

Thanks Twiglett, have forwarded her your comments.

Ohhhh 1st bit of feedback girls.......

mum has started to phone around some manufacturers to get addresses & names if poss.

She called JoJo Maman Bebe ? and the actual advertising lady called Jackie Teiseira answered the phone! She was so lovely and said something like ?Oh, that?s such a lovely idea; you?re so right to point it out?. Then she said ?actually I wore glasses when I was little ? why don?t we use kids who wear glasses in our advertising ? send me your letter with photo and I?ll talk to Julia in my marketing team?. Then added ?if it wasn?t for people like you, we just wouldn?t be aware of these things ? good luck?!!

Musn?t get too optimistic ? but nice start, eh?

TC - (Just got to tell you DP loves TC - that why our rabbit was called Chooch!! )

As a free thinking adult I would not think how Blu's 'person' would think at all - I would think it was lovely and very forward thinking and brave (in terms of the market) and considerate for a company such as pampers to use disabled children in ads - very sensible and stuff all this - they won't buy my products stuff and nonsense.

I will definately be writing my letter.

And even though its not what you want I would love to see Lottie on telly advertsiing a huge brand and changing peoples perceptions. XXX

Slightly off the point, but on the magazine side, my experience is that the mags are always desperate for people to be featured - as long as you are prepared to tell your story, be photographed etc. (You'd be surprised how many people aren't prepared to go through these hoops) My DD has DS and we 'did' Pregnancy and Birth about 3 years ago - very positive story and I even got copy approval! I wasn't keen at first, they approached me via work contact, but felt that to refuse wd send out negative message - and it all worked out beautifully (tho I say so myself) Decide what your angle is, and get in touch with the Features Editor of the appropriate magazine (some are more babies, some more children) you can find names and addresses in the mag's masthead. Good luck.

Thanks Sinclair, Aloha actually just recently interviewed me for a feature in Eve magazine.

It's going to be called 'The Ups of Downs' and is 'our story' which is a positive one.

It's funny though that I'm beginning to find people saying 'it's great to hear a positive angle' quite funny as I've yet to hear a single negative thing about having a child, or someone in your life, with DS. It's all positive.

Anyway Aloha, and Eve were amazing and I too have been given copy approval all the way along and have had the opportunity to check the whole thing 3 times!

The way I see it is it's almost my duty, and my pleasure, to make sure that I tell as many people as I can that there is nothing to be scared of. Esp now with screening being offered to every mother as routine. I'm scared that only negative, worst case scenarios will be offered and the parents will think they have no choice but to terminate. If that couple happen to have seen an article in the past about DS and how there is no reason for anyone's world to end, then it might just save all their lives iykwim.

Twinkie - you go girl - that's brilliant

I used to work in a marketing department where we were no allowed to show - a woman with a child unless she had a wedding ring on, a man with a child unless he had a woman with him, children in swimsuits. Not because we didn't like showing single mums, active dads or children at the beach, but because one of the big bosses didn't.

I would suggest that your mum also needs to target the heads of these companies not just the marketing departments. Get them asking the marketing departments "why do we not reflect society?" rather than asking a marketing person to risk being blown out in a meeting for asking the same question.

Whilst I would have loved to feature a DS child in a campaign, and would probably have tried after speaking to your mum, I know most of my colleagues wouldn't have risked their own career.

HAVE A LOOK AT THE LATEST CORRESPONDENCE AND MY MUM'S RESPONSE, SHE CRACKS ME UP!!!!!!!!:

FROM JOJO BEBE:

Many thanks for sending in the pictures of your granddaughter Charlotte. She certainly does have a delightful smile.

Most of our shoots take place abroad and at present we have no budget to take child models
with us so we use local/holiday children.

As a company we are very aware of using child models from all cultures and never discriminate against children that as you say may have limps, wear glasses or use hearing aids.

If however in the future we should ever decide to shoot in your area I will keep your details on file and be in touch.

FROM MY MUM:

Thanks for your response. You seem to imply that we want Charlotte to appear in one of your catalogues ? but that was not the purpose of my letter at all. Charlotte?s parents have absolutely no ambitions to turn their baby into a child model! The purpose of the letter was purely to highlight the fact that children with special needs are never, or very rarely, seen in children?s clothes catalogues, neither are they used in any media or TV advertising.

Your third paragraph has missed the point completely, Jules. I did not intend to imply that any company I wrote to did not use child models from all cultures. But they do not use children who ?may have a limp, wear glasses or use hearing aids?, as you have stated. I have never seen a child with special needs, either in one of your catalogues, or any other catalogue. So there is discrimination out there, I?m afraid. After all, if, as you say, you use local or holiday children, and your company policy is never to discriminate ? is it just a fluke that none of them fit into the category I have mentioned? I?d be very interested in seeing a picture of a child you have used who has special needs, if what you say is true.

I don?t want to come across as aggressive in my ?cause?. Charlotte is a joy and we are a very happy, well balanced family. I am simply making a point. And I think it?s a justified point, whatever you say! I?m very aware that the subject is a sensitive one. However, I think it would be more honest just to admit that there is discrimination and you, as a company, will try to address it.

I intend to fight on and I?m taking my views to the national papers to try and get some coverage.

But thank you for your courtesy in replying to me. I will continue to read through your catalogues with interest, hoping to come across that special needs child you don?t discriminate against.

Best wishes

IS SHE ON A MISSION OR WHAT.
THOUGHT I'D UPDATE YOU AND PERHAPS JUST MAKE YOU SMILE A BIT!

GO THOMCATS MUM -

That is fab i am so glad she went ahead with all of this and lets hope something positive comes out of this.

One things for for sure thom i can see were you get all of your determination from.

Love Fairydust xx

That's just brilliant Thomcat. You are indeed a family to be reckoned with!

What a woman! I can see where you get it from now!

Well done to your mum!

Thomcat - Your mum is wonderful. I love the way she immediately saw through all that blurb about there being no discrimination. Go Thomcat's Mum!

Fantastic! Got the 'polite,but stroppy, not-to-be-fobbed-off' tone down to a T

TC your mum sounds great