Advert in Canada promotes euthanasia: Slammed for being 'dystopian' trends now
A Canadian fashion giant has been accused of glorifying suicide after launching a media campaign that appears to promote euthanasia — a practice increasingly common in Canada.
The 'All is Beauty' video ad, launched by La Maison Simons, centers around a terminally ill woman, Jennyfer, 37, who ended her life with medication intervention in October.
The three-minute video shows Jennyfer and loved ones waving bubble wands next to the ocean, having picnics in the forest with friends and watching a puppet show.
In an audio overlay recorded weeks before her death, she says: 'I spent my life filling my heart with beauty, with nature, with connection. I choose to fill my final moments with the same... Last breaths are sacred. When I imagine my final days, I see music. I see the ocean. I see cheesecake.'
The campaign comes amid a wave of criticism from disability campaigners and doctors who have denounced Canada's assisted dying policy as 'perverted'. Already 10,000 terminally-ill Canadians are dying from euthanasia every year and in March, patients with mental health issues will be eligible.
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Use of medically assisted suicide in Canada has surged in recent years. More than 10,000 people used in in 2021, an increase of 31 per cent
Yuan Yi Zhu, a policy expert at the University of Oxford, told DailyMail.com: ‘By presenting a woman's decision to commit suicide as an upscale lifestyle choice, Simons is glorifying suicide and telling vulnerable Canadians that they would be better off dead than alive.’
The video has also drawn criticism from social media users who slammed it as 'ghoulish' and likened it to 'sci-fi dystopia'.
Since it was uploaded about a month ago, the video has garnered more than 1.1 million views on YouTube. A 30-second snippet of the video posted to Twitter has about 1.6 million views.
The company behind the campaign, La Maison Simons, is a family-owned business headquartered in Quebec that has been a staple in Canada since 1840. The retailer owns 15 department stores across Canada as well as offices in London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Florence.
DailyMail.com has approached La Maison Simons for comment.
Ahead of the controversial advert's release, La Maison Simons executive Peter Simons said the objective in shooting the video was to 'truly reflect on who we want to be as a company,' having made 'the courageous choice to use the privilege of our voice and platform to create something meaningful, something that is less about commerce and more about connection.'
Starting March 2023, Canada's medically assisted suicide eligibility will expand even further, allowing people who do not have a physical ailment to receive one. They mush receive approval from two doctors and wait 90 days between application and time of death
'We felt it was perhaps hard to reconnect with a hope and an optimism [due to the pandemic] and we wanted to do something that really underlined human connection.'
He added that Jennyfer, who did not disclose her fatal illness, was 'courageous' and 'inspiring' by sharing her story and hoped it might give people 'the strength and the courage to see beauty in the more difficult moments in life.'\
