"Serve"-ing up controversy

Serve Marketing -- the country's only volunteer, nonprofit advertising agency, which gives under-served charitable causes a stronger voice in the community -- has received much media attention in the past week because of their newest public service campaign for the Milwaukee Health Department. 


The agency, headquartered in downtown Milwaukee, created ads about the dangers of co-sleeping with infants which frightened and engraged some parents. 


The ads, like the one below, feature infants sleeping in their parent's bed gently tucked next to an enormous butcher knife. 

Now, I am not a mother, so I can only imagine how terrifying it would be to look at this ad and picture your own child sleeping next to a gigantic butcher knife. The ads are most definitely scary and controversial and I am not surprised that they have received so much backlash from parents. 


That being said, I have to admit that the ads are, in my opinion, incredibly effective. 


Whatever anyone has to say about the imagery used, the next time any parent who has seen these ads thinks about co-sleeping with their baby, I am pretty positive the first thing that will pop into their heads is a big, gleaming butcher knife.