After Unilever’s peace sign abuse, shot Pakistani girl Malala abused for mattress commercial

This video from the USA says about itself:

Malala: Fearless teen leads fight for global education

12 November 2013

One year ago, Malala Yousafzai was recovering from an attempt on her life by the Taliban. Now, she is among the most famous girls in the world as she lobbies for education. Norah O’Donnell spoke with the young activist.

As one of very few journalists, Ms O’Donnell asked Malala about her talk with US President Obama, in which she expressed her opposition to United States drone warfare.

After Unilever’s abuse of the CND peace sign for a men’s deodorant commercial …

From daily The Guardian in Britain:

Ad agency apologises to Malala for cartoon images of her being shot

Ogilvy says it deeply regrets ‘bounce back’ ad for mattress brand and launches internal investigation

Mark Sweney

Friday 16 May 2014 15.04 BST

The advertising agency responsible for using cartoon images of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the face by the Taliban, to promote a mattress brand has apologised and launched an investigation.

The poster ad features a series of images of Malala being shot, falling backwards covered in blood, being put on a drip and then bouncing off a mattress and recovering to receive an award.

The poster, made by the Indian offices of WPP-owned network Ogilvy & Mather for bed firm Kurl-On, runs with the strapline “Bounce Back”.

Greg Carton, Ogilvy’s press spokesman for Asia Pacific, apologised to Yousafzai and her family.

“The recent Kurl-On ads from our India office are contrary to the beliefs and professional standards of Ogilvy & Mather and our clients,” he said. “We deeply regret this incident and want to personally apologise to Malala Yousafzai and her family.”

He said that the agency is to investigate how the ads came to be made, and will review its approval system.

“We are investigating how our standards were compromised in this case and will take whatever corrective action is necessary,” he said. “In addition, we have launched a thorough review of our approval and oversight processes across our global network to help ensure that our standards are never compromised again.”

The campaign also includes two other ads, one featuring Gandhi leaving his career as a barrister to become a peace activist, the other featuring Steve Jobs making a comeback after he was kicked out of Apple.

Carton said that only the Jobs ad had run in paid-for media, in a local newspaper in India, while the other two were featured on an advertising industry website.

Two years ago WPP was criticised after one of its ad agencies made a TV commercial featuring an Argentinian Olympic athlete training on a war memorial on the Falkland Islands.

Malala Yousafzai is widely known as a supporter of girls’ education; a bit less known as a supporter of socialism; and an opponent of United States drone warfare in her country Pakistan.