Family launches new 'find Madeleine' advertising campaign

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3607322




The family of a 4-year-old British girl missing in Portugal said Saturday it was planning a $160,000, advertising campaign urging people to keep looking for the child, whose parents have been named suspects in the disappearance.
The newspaper, television and billboard campaign will be focused on Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe and will be paid for using donations from a $2 million fund set up to help find Madeleine McCann, her uncle, John McCann, said in a statement.




"I hope that the general public will continue to support us in this. It is so important that we remember 'don't you forget about me,' our lovely wee Madeleine," he said, speaking as the fund's administrator.
Celebrities including children's author J.K. Rowling and soccer star David Beckham made public appeals in May that helped the family raise money for their fund.
Saturday's announcement followed the family's decision not to spend the proceeds from the fund on legal costs for Madeline's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.
The parents were taking stock and preparing their legal case after a week of intense media speculation about their possible role in their daughter's disappearance during their vacation in southern Portugal on May 3, said Natalie Orringe, a spokeswoman for the McCanns.
The couple, both doctors, have no plans to leave their hometown of Rothley, in central England, to return to Portugal unless required to do so, she said.
They have been named as suspects in her disappearance, but deny any involvement and insist police keep searching for their missing girl.
A Portuguese investigating judge began examining the police file on Madeleine's disappearance on Wednesday and is expected to announce a decision next week on what further steps are required to determine what happened to her.
Forensic tests conducted at a government laboratory in Britain found evidence indicating that DNA from Madeleine was in the trunk of a car the parents used in Portugal's Algarve region after her disappearance.


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Thoughts? is this another way to deflect attention away from them? OR is this the family's doing w/o K&G ?

Yes, the family is trying to deflect attention away from criticism of them and the charges against them.

They've done it before- in late August when news first began to surface that they might have had a hand in Madeleine's disappearance, the McCanns released a flurry of interviews.

Among them were statements announcing they were planning to a) go home, b) stay in Portugal, c) cut back on their public appearances, d) make a new push to find their daughter, e) sue a newspaper and f) not sue the paper.

It's all about creating news to counteract other news and speculation about their behavior. Besides which, everything they say they're going to do to find Madeleine is nothing new. The areas they want to target have already been blanketed with information on her.

Geez, after all the shopping sprees, visit to the Pope and the US, jogging, launching balloons they NOW do this? *sigh*

SleuthMom said:

Geez, after all the shopping sprees, visit to the Pope and the US, jogging, launching balloons they NOW do this? *sigh*

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You're joking, right? These campaigns have been all over the world all summer. They aren't just *now* doing this. They are continuing this, stupidly thinking they can make a difference in America. Little do they know they have already been thrown in the pile with the Ramseys & OJ already.

Shrinky

shrinkydink said:

You're joking, right? These campaigns have been all over the world all summer. They aren't just *now* doing this. They are continuing this, stupidly thinking they can make a difference in America. Little do they know they have already been thrown in the pile with the Ramseys & OJ already.

Shrinky

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Shrinky, you're not being fair or accurate. At the beginning right after Madeleine disappeared almost all of us gave the McCanns the benefit of the doubt and believed she'd been kidnapped. It was only after the jogging blogs and visiting the Pope that we began to doubt that their true focus was finding their daughter. And if it's determined that the parents were responsible for her death, the whole FindMadeleine campaign was a fraud from the get-go.

CaliKid said:

Shrinky, you're not being fair or accurate. At the beginning right after Madeleine disappeared almost all of us gave the McCanns the benefit of the doubt and believed she'd been kidnapped. It was only after the jogging blogs and visiting the Pope that we began to doubt that their true focus was finding their daughter. And if it's determined that the parents were responsible for her death, the whole FindMadeleine campaign was a fraud from the get-go.

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I have said it before...if they are proven to be the killers, I will personally write a letter to whomever calling for the most harsh of punishments. I will even post that letter here. No doubt.

BUT (y'all knew it was coming ) They cannot be called on an ad campaign to find their missing child. If they just stopped begging for people to look THAT would be hinky imo.

shrinkydink said:

You're joking, right? These campaigns have been all over the world all summer. They aren't just *now* doing this. They are continuing this, stupidly thinking they can make a difference in America. Little do they know they have already been thrown in the pile with the Ramseys & OJ already.

Shrinky

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No, the billboards have not been all over Europe already. In fact, Madeleine's height and weight have not been released to the public, meaning that many supposed sightings could be ruled out much more quickly, freeing up time and resources to go after the more credible ones.

CaliKid said:

Yes, the family is trying to deflect attention away from criticism of them and the charges against them.

They've done it before- in late August when news first began to surface that they might have had a hand in Madeleine's disappearance, the McCanns released a flurry of interviews.

Among them were statements announcing they were planning to a) go home, b) stay in Portugal, c) cut back on their public appearances, d) make a new push to find their daughter, e) sue a newspaper and f) not sue the paper.

It's all about creating news to counteract other news and speculation about their behavior. Besides which, everything they say they're going to do to find Madeleine is nothing new. The areas they want to target have already been blanketed with information on her.

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It seems to me that, whatever they do, they are criticized. They were criticized for not more aggressively looking for their daughter. Now they are criticized for the poster campaign. I do have doubts about them, yet I have read so very many contradictory stories that I am truly on the fence (unusual for me) and very suspicious of most reports. A case in point is that of the upstairs neighbor who supposedly heard Madeleine crying for a long time at one point. I took that quite seriously. Now I read that she denies having made the statement. It is very frustrating.

CaliKid said:

Yes, the family is trying to deflect attention away from criticism of them and the charges against them.

They've done it before- in late August when news first began to surface that they might have had a hand in Madeleine's disappearance, the McCanns released a flurry of interviews.

Among them were statements announcing they were planning to a) go home, b) stay in Portugal, c) cut back on their public appearances, d) make a new push to find their daughter, e) sue a newspaper and f) not sue the paper.

It's all about creating news to counteract other news and speculation about their behavior. Besides which, everything they say they're going to do to find Madeleine is nothing new. The areas they want to target have already been blanketed with information on her.

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Really? What charges are against them? There have now been official charges placed against them?

Texana said:

No, the billboards have not been all over Europe already. In fact, Madeleine's height and weight have not been released to the public, meaning that many supposed sightings could be ruled out much more quickly, freeing up time and resources to go after the more credible ones.

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I agree. The posters for finding Madeleine are in two languages- English and Portuguese. That makes it wonderful for sightings in Portugal or for those who speak English and are on holiday. Not so great for the people of the Netherlands, France, Germany, Morocco, etc. who don't speak either language.

There is little in the way of a physical description about her on the website.

And the McCanns treated almost every previous sighting of her with contempt. Not once did I ever see or hear a report on them saying, "Oh, Madeleine was seen at xxxx, and we hope it's her."

eleven said:

Really? What charges are against them? There have now been official charges placed against them?

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Let me rephrase- suspicions of them.

eleven said:

Really? What charges are against them? There have now been official charges placed against them?

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Not official charges. No one has been officially charged.

Some of them are going to be re-questioned.

I've said it before: if they are going to insist that they did not harm their daughter and are not involved in her disappearance, then they need to get off of their collective bums and make an effort to find her. No campaigning for monies... no focus on THEIR life of photoshoots and daily reports of checking their emails, jogging and what-have-yous... but a true collective movement to find that child. I will hold judgement on this billboard thing until they are up... if they are billboards that are nothing more than adverts for the findmadeleine website as the website exists, then it is in my opinion that they are not looking for her, but seeking campaign support. If it is a true "help us find her, here's info on her" billboards, then finally something was done right in putting forth a search to find her. It's a little late in the game, but finally. Yes, they are suspects in her disappearance... but until they have been charged and the PJ and British officials have said that Madeleine is beyond a shadow of a doubt deceased, then we can't truly write Madeleine off as being dead and not worthy of some effort to find her. If this is a ruse to avert attention away from the parents, worry not, the truth will prevail and they will be made to pay their dues for lying to everyone. But for now... until we officially know that Madeleine is gone... she's still a missing little girl.

Oh... Brian Ladd doesn't seem too happy that the McCanns are putting money into this billboard thing and not getting together with him on his campaign to get to Portugal to use his "abilities" to find her. He said he hopes it is not their ego holding them back. Say what you will about the McCanns, but I am glad they are not falling for his dream scams.

Yes, the campaign needs to be backed up with multi-language pleas and physical efforts in those countries where child trafficking is common.

Billboards??? This is what they feel the best thing they can do right now to find Maddie? Do they not realise how rediculis this is? There is no lack of media attention on Maddie. Her face has been plasted everywhere. What is lacking is search effort. How about spending there time and money investigating the avenuse they have for launching there own investigation. How about working to get a search group like texas equsearch to come look for Maddie. How about putting the effort and money into getting people looking for Maddie instead of focusing on people getting to look at Maddie. This new plan of action dose not make me think any better of the parents

mjak

mjak said:

Billboards??? This is what they feel the best thing they can do right now to find Maddie? Do they not realise how rediculis this is? There is no lack of media attention on Maddie. Her face has been plasted everywhere. What is lacking is search effort. How about spending there time and money investigating the avenuse they have for launching there own investigation. How about working to get a search group like texas equsearch to come look for Maddie. How about putting the effort and money into getting people looking for Maddie instead of focusing on people getting to look at Maddie. This new plan of action dose not make me think any better of the parents

mjak

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This is exactly how I feel about this new bit of information. It only makes me feel worse concerning the parents. We know what she looks like, she's everywhere. We need foot work. On the ground, professionals, locals, that sure is alot of money for billboards.

What a waste of tons of money. They need to be doing grid, door to door, wells, ditches, land, waters, cars, farms, etc... Come on people. what's up with this? I'm just not satisfied in the parents search efforts. All talk, no action.

Has the parents personally searched for them? Set up a command center? The long haul time consuming physical effort it takes to search? Somebody, please take the money from these people and put it to a good cause, please.

KOOL LOOK said:

This is exactly how I feel about this new bit of information. It only makes me feel worse concerning the parents. We know what she looks like, she's everywhere. We need foot work. On the ground, professionals, locals, that sure is alot of money for billboards.

What a waste of tons of money. They need to be doing grid, door to door, wells, ditches, land, waters, cars, farms, etc... Come on people. what's up with this? I'm just not satisfied in the parents search efforts. All talk, no action.

Has the parents personally searched for them? Set up a command center? The long haul time consuming physical effort it takes to search? Somebody, please take the money from these people and put it to a good cause, please.

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I agree. Since I'm suspicious of the parents and feel Madeleine is probably dead, I will hazard an opinion that they probably don't want some group like EquuSearch working to find her. They don't really want Madeleine found, it's just lip-service. But putting up billboards and even more posters makes the McCanns look good.

Simply...since it is NOT their money, they do not care how that money is going to be spend AND since I personally suspect they disposed Maddie's body in a place that nobody will ever found her, they will continue with this sick game to gain some popularity, support AND trust that have been lost since they were made arguidos.

CaliKid said:

Shrinky, you're not being fair or accurate. At the beginning right after Madeleine disappeared almost all of us gave the McCanns the benefit of the doubt and believed she'd been kidnapped. It was only after the jogging blogs and visiting the Pope that we began to doubt that their true focus was finding their daughter. And if it's determined that the parents were responsible for her death, the whole FindMadeleine campaign was a fraud from the get-go.

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Of course IF they are found to have killed her themselves, it was all a fraud. But there's no serious evidence they did kill her, yet so many people are now acting as if there is.

How am I being unfair by pointing out that people here seem to have already convicted this family when even the forensic experts admit they don't have anything on them? It's just a hate-fest, and I don't really get why. It seems so overdone. It's no longer enough to call them idiots, but every move they make is now posted on here as signs of ten different kinds of ignorance and guilt. I'm starting to wonder if you're even reading the same news, you're so far out with some of your "analysis".

Yes, they seem to be jackasses, and they certainly hired a very, very bad PR person. But a lot of you guys all seem to think you would know so much more about how to handle this kind of situation. I just don't understand why any of you think that you would do one bit better in the same horrible circumstances.

Shrinky

CaliKid said:

I agree. Since I'm suspicious of the parents and feel Madeleine is probably dead, I will hazard an opinion that they probably don't want some group like EquuSearch working to find her. They don't really want Madeleine found, it's just lip-service. But putting up billboards and even more posters makes the McCanns look good.

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I agree, and it sounds to me like they or the publicist/team McCann want the heat taken off them, so are doing whatever they can to distract any more attention to themselves, that is my opinion of course.

As to what they should be doing some of the suggestions may not be possible anyway because of Portugal laws. They can't hire a private investigator. Would Tim Miller be allowed there or be willing? Didn't he need special permission in Aruba? Where should they look?

Don't forget the McCanns are using experts and consultants to tell them what they should be doing and the main focus all along has been to keep Madeleine's story in the media. I can't fault them for that.