This Article is From Aug 05, 2009

TN ad brands healthy mother and child as HIV positive

TN ad brands healthy mother and child as HIV positive
Chennai: There are hoardings across Tamil Nadu showing the faces of a mother and child, used by the Tamil Nadu government for its campaign against AIDS.

But here's the catch. They are not HIV positive. But the slogan on hoardings across the State imply otherwise. The result: not just her neighbours, even family members have ostracised her.

Now she has sought a compensation of one crore rupees and a direction from the Madras High Court to remove all those hoardings that display pictures of herself and her 4-year-old child.

"How can they use someone's photographs without consent, that too for an AIDS campaign? The tenant wants her to vacate the house. Neighbours don't speak. Even children don't play with her daughter," said Mohanakrishnan, an advocate.

Hoardings like these at maternity hospitals across Tamil Nadu continue to cause more damage to the innocent mother and her child. The Tamil Nadu government blames it on a private advertising agency for this blunder. The case comes up for hearing on Wednesday.
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