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The Department of Trade and Industry is highlighting the dangers of

sparklers in its annual firework safety ads.

The press work, created by Ogilvy & Mather, uses the slogan: ’Keep

sparklers in safe hands.’ In 1997, sparklers caused more injuries than

any other type of firework, yet many people do not consider them to be

dangerous.

The campaign aims to make parents aware of the implications of leaving

children unsupervised with sparklers.

The three ads all use similar imagery. The first ad shows a child’s hand

resting on top of a red-hot barbecue grill below the headline: ’A

sparkler burns at five times the heat of a bonfire night BBQ.’

The text reads: ’You would never let your child do this in a million

years. So why, every year, do thousands of parents let their children

play with sparklers unsupervised?’

The second execution features a child’s hand hovering over a frying pan

of hot cooking oil alongside the line: ’A sparkler burns at eight times

the heat of cooking oil.’ The final execution uses a child’s hand over a

saucepan of boiling water to make its point.

The ads were written and art directed at O&M by the creative directors,

Alun Howell and Marcus Vinton. Photography was by Graham Ford.

The campaign will run in women’s weeklies from 27 October for one week.