Sperm outrage

An ambitious web campaign to recruit sperm donors has provoked a row over how far to go to address Britain's chronic shortage of stocks. Parents and potential parents say it is offensive and that it risks perpetuating the tacky stereotype of donors they have fought to dispel.

The Give a Toss web adverts (watch the videos lol) use images of young women in We Want Your Sperm T shirts, winking at the camera, a virtual "toss-o-meter" game which encourages would-be donors to practice and improve their wrist action, and a spoof news flash about a national sperm day. Aimed at men aged 18-35, it was set up by a government-funded charity, the National Gamete Donation Trust, to recruit donors.

The number of men who supply fertility clinics has been declining for five years, since government plans to end anonymity for donors were first discussed, and numbers have continued to decline since the law was changed last year.

Critics of the campaign, launched last week, have accused the charity of alienating donor parents, would-be parents and donor-conceived children by perpetuating a "tacky" image.

Olivia Montuschi, of the Donor Conception Network, a group representing 1,000 families, said: "I was very shocked. This campaign appears to promote the image of a sperm donor as someone who is not hugely responsible - the very opposite of the image we would like to see portrayed.

"Many of our supporters find it offensive and some have been quite upset."
The NGDT needs 500 sperm donors annually to supply demand. The latest figures for 2005 show only 150 donors came forward.