Posted: April 1st, 2010 - 5:53pm by Doug Powell

What has been called a disturbing but effective ad from the Church of Sweden, shows a mother filling a baby bottle with dirty dishwater and then feeding it to her child, to highlight the plight of countries worldwide that don’t have access to clean drinking water.

The campaign has raised over US$ 32,500 for church-sponsored water and sanitation projects but at the same time it has upset some Swedish viewers.

The reactions to the film have included criticism that the woman in the ad is white, giving the dirty water to a white baby. That was one reaction the [Church of Sweden] said it hadn’t expected.”

“Margareta Grape, the [Church of Sweden's] foreign minister, said in a press statement that she believes people need thought-provoking and challenging images like those contained in the ad to wake up and realize that clean water issue are severe, but also that they can be solved."