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Halloween blood drive scares would-be donors

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Halloween blood drive scares would-be donors

A campaign launched with the intention of attracting blood donors in Gothenburg has been scrapped after recipients reacted in horror to its "threatening and frightening" message.

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"Give blood! See blood!", was the message of the campaign launched by the local health authority, but upon learning the message had the opposite effect, the campaign has been withdrawn.

"We just have to realize that we made a big, big mistake," said Jan Kronar at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg.

The intention was good and a lot of thought went into the Halloween-themed campaign, but the results were not quite as positive as hoped.

An advertising bureau was hired for the campaign and came up with the idea to send out an unaddressed A4 sheet of paper adorned with the simple message "Give blood!, See Blood!" to 30,000 households in the Gothenburg area.

The message however missed its target among some, with 20 to 30 people getting in touch to register their anger at how threatening and frightening the text was.

Not least, it was pointed out, with the recent highly-publicised murders in the city in mind.

"We did not think, we apologise, we have learned from this and have done a complete u-turn," said Jan Kronar.

The Droppen (the drop) blood campaign will now suspend all activities and go back to the drawing-board.

Jan Kronar was unable to details how much money the campaign has used and thus wasted, but said that it is not a significant amount.

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