St John Ambulance (UK) have launched a controversial new campaign to encourage people to learn basic first aid skills.

Entitled “Helpless”, the TV advert follows the story of a cancer survivor who dies after choking at a celebratory BBQ.

St John Ambulance has launched a new campaign, Helpless, including a new TV advert, which highlights that up to 140,000 people die each year in situations where first aid could have helped save their lives – as many as die from cancer.

The film, which first aired during ITV1’s Downton Abbey on Sunday 16 September, follows the journey of a man who is diagnosed with cancer, undergoes treatment, and survives only to die as a result of choking at a family gathering because no one knows the basic first aid that could have saved his life.

You can watch the advert below, or find out more on the SJA website. What do you think of this new campaign? Will it encourage people to learn first aid?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC7zfgCXQFs[/youtube]