Suffering with a hearing impairment is difficult enough for a child and their parent to deal with, without being targeted by insulting advertisements.

 

This is exactly the reaction of parents in Australia, after a hearing aid company erected billboards all over the country bearing a highly offensive campaign slogan.

 

Showing a picture of a woman with a huge prawn sitting over her ear, the image reads: “HEARING AIDS can be UGLY. Ours are INVISIBLE!”

 

Needless to say, people haven’t been responding too positively to Victorian Hearing’s controversial and rather insensitive new ad, and a number of parents are concerned that it is just perpetuating the negative image some children associate with hearing aids.

 

Among the complaints on the company’s Facebook page were one from a worried mum, who wrote: “The use of the word UGLY has given every parent currently fighting the war of kids wearing hearing aids another hurdle to jump.”

 

 

The backlash against the ad was so overwhelming that the company was forced to pull it, and issue an apology.

 

“Victorian Hearing sincerely apologises if our current invisible hearing solution ad was hurtful, it was certainly not our intention,” the statement read.

 

“Our goal and intention is to help those with hearing loss who are not seeking help due to stigma. Since we released this ad, we have been able to help many who would have never stepped foot inside an audiology clinic as they were not aware of all options available,” it added.

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