A NATIONAL advertising agency is set to launch a huge publicity drive for the charity set up in the name of a murdered East Lancashire teenager.

Propaganda, a Leeds-based ad firm, is set to launch a string of media promotions in November after agreeing a deal with the family of Sophie Lancaster.

The company will promote the SOPHIE Foundation in a campaign to raise its profile to national prominence.

Propaganda will work in conjunction with Sophie's mother Sylvia to promote the positive nature of different subcultures and to campaign for tolerance within society.

The charity also aims to provide a lasting legacy for Sophie, who was murdered because she dressed differently.

Propaganda is developing a full marketing and communications programme for the foundation – which stands for Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere.

Julian Kynaston, chairman of Propaganda, said: “This has simply been the hardest job we have had to do and it is impossible not to get caught up in the emotion.

“We could have easily used disturbing images of Sophie in hospital that have been in the media to generate the shock factor, but Sylvia was rightfully adamant that the campaign should be positive and peaceful.

“Just seeing Sophie’s beautiful face both conveys the way that she lived her life and the shocking reality of what has been taken away.

“I am delighted that Sylvia has given us the opportunity to help work with the Foundation, which continues to generate so much support and empathy on a worldwide basis.”

He said that the firm had slashed its normal fee for the job and added that many magazines had already indicated that they will carry the adverts for much less that the normal price.

Three adverts have been designed so far. One includes the phrase: “Wierdo, mosher, freak. If only they’d stop at name calling.”

The firm’s current contracts include Greggs the Bakers, hair products firm ghd and Seabrook crisps.

Sylvia said she approached the firm to help boost the charity’s profile.

She said: “I was so nervous but, when I saw the work, it perfectly communicated the core message of the foundation, and how I want Sophie to be remembered.

“For me it was really important to balance Sophie's character as a sensitive, intelligent and caring girl, proud of who she was as well as conveying the horrendous and senseless circumstances of her murder.

“We have to hope that through the charity we can change people’s feelings and misunder-standing of alternative sub-cultures and drive out the feelings of hatred that seem to plague our society. “ Sophie, a former pupil at Haslingden High School, was killed in August last year by a gang who attacked her and her boyfriend Robert Maltby in Stubbylee Park in Bacup.