Gates scholar hosts talk on charity advertising

  • October 22, 2010

Gates scholar Christopher Geissler will host a debate on charity advertising at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

Gates scholar Christopher Geissler is hosting a debate on when pictures of suffering children step over the line and become exploitative at this year’s Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

‘How far is too far? Charity advertising and images of suffering children’ takes place on Monday and will address such topics as whether depicting children who are suffering extreme hunger or disease is an intrusion of their right to privacy and dignity or a valid means of getting donations.

Speakers include Rachel Palmer, communications manager at Save The Children and Dr Ildiko Csengei, lecturer in English, who will speak on the history of charities’ use of imagery. The discussion takes place at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities in Mill Lane at 5.30-7pm.

Geissler’s PhD, ‘A Distinctly German Mission: Slavery and Abolitionism in German Writing, 1848-1918’, includes an examination of the German ‘practice’ of international humanitarianism.

The charities advertising debate headlines a day full of mainly free events and activities kicking off the second week of the Festival of Ideas, which runs until 31 October. The Festival is open to all members of the public and celebrates the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

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