A Letter to the Butterfly Foundation

So, no reply from Lovable to my last letter pointing out the severe disjunction between their campaign and the aims of The Butterfly Foundation.

Still, something occurred to me. Surely Butterfly must be concerned that Lovable are trading off their reputation in this way, while compromising it so severely? So I wrote to their CEO Christine Morgan and PR Manager, Hannah Cranage.

Dear Christine and Hannah,

I am sure that, by now, you are well aware of the growing public sense of hypocrisy over the current “Love Colour” campaign run by your sponsor, Lovable.

As you know, Lovable proudly advertise their sponsorship of your excellent organisation on their website while, at the same time, using images of Jennifer Hawkins in an advertising campaign that, by any reasonable assessment, only serve to compromise your stated goals of improving body image amongst women.

Since you will be well-versed in the specific issues I will not rehearse the exact nature of the images that Lovable use, but I would point out to you that they do not seem to acknowledge the severe discongruity between your organisation's aims and the images used. In recent correspondence with me, Justine Violante (Gazal Marketing and P/R Manager) claimed that the images “use Lovable’s cheeky tone of voice“, a response which might charitably be termed as “avoidance” but, given the clear sexualised nature of the images and the ridiculously unrealistic (and, of course, retouched) female figure that is used, might better be described as “disingenuous”. I did reply to Justine last Friday 9 September to point this out but have, to date, not received a reply. Nor do I expect one. The advertising campaign, of course, places her in an impossible position if she seeks to continue to trade off your organisation's good name.

As a husband, father of 3 children, and a worker myself in the not-for-profit sector, I am immensely grateful for the work of organisations such as The Butterfly Foundation. This is why I am very concerned to see your reputation compromised and tarnished in this way. I am confident that you, too, share this concern.

Yours sincerely,

David Ould

I'm sure they're as concerned as I am and await their reply.

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This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Thank you David for such an excellent challenge! As the mum of 3 children too, it is fabulous to hear a male voice.

  2. David Ould

    Hi collett. Appreciate your comment.

    However, just to clarify, didn’t intend to be challenging Butterfly, just to encourage them to take action!

  3. Collett

    Hi David

    Sorry, I did realise that (poor use of wording). They do an AMAZING job for women struggling with eating disorders in our country and I love how you encourage them to look at this area of concern.

  4. Dwight

    Hey David,
    Have you heard back from Butterfly yet? will you be publishing their response (if you get one)?

    I would have expected them to reply by now!

    Great letter by the way.

    Cheers
    Dwight

  5. David Ould

    Dwight, sadly nothing back at all from either party. Most disappointing.

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