The lousy design turned a beautiful message into a horrifying one
As occurs in life, some things are a matter of perception. Many things change entirely once we change the point of view from which we see them. This sign is an example of this. There’s no way to understand what’s happening when you first read it. “Help help us kids.”
Is it a mistake in the layout of the message? Maybe they could have thought it through better. The reality is that the sign says “Help us help kids,” which is a lovely message. Still, our brain tends to sort the words horizontally, and the first thing we understood was something much scarier.