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.