A New Approach to Promoting Safer Sex

Written by Tara Tainton

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 23:00

You don't need me to encourage you to have safe sex; you know the risks and dangers. I think we're all fully aware of the dangers by the time we're 7 years of age or so, given the flood of sex-related information, positive and negative, pouring over us from different types of media, authority figures, and other influences by that time.

In many cases, western society is now set up to provide us with more thoughts about sex, mostly in terms of life- or reputation-ruining consequences, than we'd even have on our own at such a young age. We're often encouraged to be responsible before we're even fully aware of sex is or how/when/why it will be expected of us or interest us and actually be a decision making factor in our lives. Personally, the amount of information and "facts" is so overwhelming that the majority of the time, I don't even notice safe-sex or other sex-related notices when they are put right in front of my face. Like local news, I tend to just tune it all out.

safe sex cartoon

So, how are organizations, parents, and others trying to reach the younger generations on the topic of sex and convince them to practice it safely or not at all? You'll find it all very interesting and very different from the introductions we were once given to the realm of the sexual from dangers to diseases, questions to quandaries, decisions to dire consequences.

Take, for example, this safe sex music video (a truly unique concept) made available by the BBC. Click here to watch the video at an external link. Now, there wasn't anything fun and entertaining like that when I was first considering beginning my sexual experience. Still, I don't know that seeing the video would have left "safe sex" as the biggest message in my memory. Nor do I like anyone promoting that idea of "the right one" now.

god hates me united way college humor rubbers condoms funny

Of course this can't be a real United Way poster; no company, message, or campaign in our society is ever that straightforward. Still, does it really matter if this is real? The message is loud and clear:

You got drunk. You got lucky. You didn't pull out.
Now you've got an Ugly Wife and a snotty kid.
We could have prevented your life from going to shit.

It reminds me of the poster I saw in a Planned Parenthood clinic recently that showed a young girl holding a baby and stated something like "Parenting a child is like being grounded for 18 years. There are other options."

A New Zealand safe sex ad campaign commercial features a cartoon rapper with a musical message: "there will be no hubba hubba if you ain't got no rubba." Check it out, and judge its effectiveness for yourself. Click on the colored hyperlink on the referred page at AdRants labeled "commercial."

In India, a major television broadcast network is using a commercial campaign developed from the efforts of Canada, India, and South Africa jointly. The animated condom ads use the Three Amigos to spread humor instead of disease in 20 different ads. The characters of Shaft, Stretch, and Dick illustrate the light-hearted approach to information provision. Read more here.