TBWA\China and Amnesty distance themselves from human rights campaign

Similarly, Amnesty International’s global HQ in London has also disowned any ownership of the series of print ads, which took home a bronze from the Cannes Lions advertising festival last month.

A TBWA spokesperson said: "Neither TBWA\International nor TBWA\China had involvement or prior knowledge of the development of this campaign. TBWA\International is a non-political organisation. Our offices in China have responsibly contributed to the development of China’s advertising and marketing industry for more than 12 years. TBWA\China is proud that Beijing is hosting the Olympic Games in August and remains committed to supporting its success. Indeed their award-winning work fundamentally reflects not only the Chinese people’s passion for the summer Games, but TBWA\China’s too."


Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Amnesty pointed out that while local Amnesty offices are responsible for their own campaigns, the NGO’s global HQ did not approve the drive. "There were discussions about the creation of the ads, but this is not an Amnesty campaign nor a campaign we are endorsing or disseminating," said the spokesperson, who declined to comment on whether the organisation had seen the ads before their launch.

According to sources, Amnesty France’s office was more involved in the campaign. However, the issue is further complicated by the website address - Amnesty.com - which is used on the ads. That address is non-existent; Amnesty’s website is located at amnesty.org.