(April 7) -- A controversial new anti-smoking ad featuring a crying, lost 3-year-old boy is being both hailed as brilliant and blasted as inappropriate.
The heart-wrenching 'Separation,' from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, first shows the boy holding his mother's hand in a crowded train station. Then she's gone, and he stands alone, confused and upset. A voice says, "If this is how your child feels after losing you for a minute, just imagine if they lost you for life."
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You can watch the ad here.
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The public service announcement has stirred debate over whether the clearly upset child was treated appropriately during filming. It was adapted from an original Australian version, whose producers said the boy's tears were real.
"We didn't do anything dastardly to make him cry. He did get upset, but it was about a 10-second period that he was upset for and then his mother came back and gave him a big cuddle and everything was happy again," Edwina Pearce, a spokeswoman for the Cancer Council Victoria in Australia, told the New York Daily News.
MSNBC reported that on a New York Times Web site forum, many people supported the spot a s a powerful message for an important issue, while others slammed it as inappropriately manipulative. One person called the ad "atrocious, offensive and irresponsible," and another questioned the use of the crying child, writing, "Those emotions looked too real to be considered just acting."
The producers and New York City health officials argued the ends justifies the means in this case.
"In order to motivate someone to quit, you have to provoke a strong emotional response," Jenna Mandel-Ricci, director of special projects for the city Department of Health, told the Daily News. "If we run ads that people don't remember or that don't affect people, then people won't call for help."
Get the full story from the New York Daily News.
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