A Hallowe’en-themed campaign aimed at attracting blood donors in Gothenburg, Sweden, has been scrapped after the community reacted in horror to its “threatening” message.
The local health authority has discontinued the adverts after learning that the “Give blood! See blood!” drive was scaring off potential donors. As part of the scheme thought up by an advertising bureau, 30,000 houses in Gothenburg received an un-addressed sheet of paper adorned with the spooky message.
After reading their unexpected mail, between 20 to 30 people contacted the register to complain about the threatening and frightening nature of the leaflets. Some also pointed out that the campaign was in particularly bad taste considering the recent highly-publicised murders in the city.
“We just have to realise that we made a big, big mistake,” said Jan Kronar at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg in a report by The Local. “We did not think, we apologise, we have learned from this and have done a complete u-turn,” she added.
All previous activities of the Droppen (drop) campaign have now been suspended while the advertising team goes back to the drawing board. Jan Kronar declined to reveal how much the original campaign cost but claimed it is not a significant amount.