The funding was given to the Flowers and Plants Association, the trade body for British flower sellers, which has used the money to pay for a series of advertisements in glossy magazines. The aim is to boost sales by changing the image of flowers as luxury items, which the average family can live without. One of the advertisements shows a middle-aged man in the bedroom, struggling to undress, while his wife watches nearby, in her dressing gown. Another, designed to show how flowers can cure hangovers, shows a young woman attempting to recover from the night before in her bathroom. A further ad features two young children playing near an open widow, which is designed to show how flowers can be beneficial to asthma sufferers.
Plants remove formaldehyde from the air.
It is expenditure like this which gives the European Commission a bad name. I am all for helping British business, but there are other priorities than funding an advertising campaign for florists. A spokeswoman for the National Asthma Campaign said such claims should be treated with caution. You have to remember that some flowers can act as triggers because they carry certain scents and perfumes. They can also attract dust and moulds which can also trigger attacks.