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March 31, 2005 Marketing Genius
Indoctrination is the best way to disseminate a message. Even Mcdonalds seems to know that. Needless to say, deceptive commercial campaigns are rampant. There is one in particular that is driving me crazy. The "Knowing is Beautiful" Campaign Seen both on television, as well as on billboards, when the "Knowing is Beautiful" campaign billboards first began appearing on Boston buses and subway station billboards, people were rightfully disturbed. The Boston Globe reports: Knowing is beautiful? What a weird choice of words, Boston public health nurse Brianne Fitzgerald thought when she first saw the ad in the subway.
Scandalous."Knowing is not beautiful," Fitzgerald says now, weeks later. An AIDS counselor and caregiver for nearly 20 years, Fitzgerald recalls a group of her AIDS patients that included a bony, ratty-haired, pock-marked old addict from the JP projects; a tiny baby-doll-like prostitute in the South End who puffed up like a Cabbage Patch Kid before she passed away; and an infant in a Cambodian village whose body was so malnourished and riven by diarrhea that he looked 70, not 7 weeks, before he died. No, says Fitzgerald, "It's not beautiful. It's depressing as ****" Like some others in the field, Fitzgerald, 56, fears that by using such glossy depictions to break the barriers of blase, the ads are veering into dangerous territory: glamorizing the disease, as she put it; disguising the fact that despite great medical strides, people are still dying from AIDS; dismissing the many who are still living but are shredded by the side effects of their medications, from nausea to nightmares; even loosening safe-sex strictures with its elegant touch. "We want everything to look nice in our culture," Fitzgerald says. Still, as it sweeps across the country, the "knowing is beautiful" theme -- a joint effort by Viacom, the media giant, and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides information on health issues to the public and policymakers -- is being heaped with praise in some quarters for being a chic public service approach to trying to lower the percentages of those who are infected with HIV but don't know it, now pegged by Kaiser as about 1 in 4 in the United States of those infected. By eschewing the scary and statistic-driven messages of typically dull public service announcements in favor of a style more reminiscent of a Gap ad -- sensual sepia tones, hip-hop iconography, and an adhesive bandage from a blood test primped up as a beautiful flower-shaped HIV-test trademark -- the media blitz's participants are hoping to turn the clinical into the cool. Comments Posted by: jab at March 31, 2005 7:59 AM Good points jab,but the same can be said about sex-ed. The problem is not that kids don't know,they don't apply what they have been taught. Posted by: Eric at March 31, 2005 8:40 AM No, jab, what is scandalous is that parents have almost completely given up their child-rearing responsibilities to our school system. I didn't need any teacher telling me anything about procreation, recreational or not, because it had already been drummed into me that the right thing to do was keep my cotton-pickin' hands to myself until I was married (so to speak). BTW, why is it that the people who are so solidly in favor of graphic sex education in schools usually recoil at the mere mention of gun safety courses in the same setting? Posted by: Glen at March 31, 2005 8:42 AM If you do sex right, a condom will not protect against STDs. Until you have a committed monogamous relationship, listen to Ms. Elder. Posted by: Walter E. Wallis at March 31, 2005 9:06 AM Excellent point, Glen (about the gun safety thing). Posted by: Andrea at March 31, 2005 9:23 AM Abstinence not only helps prevent std's, it helps reduce the heartbreaks too. Ther eare a multitude of std's that go unmentioned and undetected. Especially those that can spread without actual intercourse occurring. I wish more people would be straightforward with the kids. Posted by: Mark La Roi at March 31, 2005 9:58 AM Great post...especially your last comment... "The slogan, "Knowing is Beautiful," as in knowing that your irresponsible sexual choices haven't caught up with you yet is deceptive to say the least." so very true...couldn't say it better. Posted by: latisha at March 31, 2005 12:56 PM I must say that you all have valid points. Great post by the way. It a great topic for further discussion. As parents we can't hold the education system (or in some instances the lack of) responsible for educating our children. It's like spitting in the wind, it will come back and haunt us if we do. Posted by: Princess Dominique at March 31, 2005 2:16 PM I read your blog, and I'm LDS. Does that make me your neighbor? If so, I'm happy to answer any questions :) (wouldn't want to disappoint expectations raised by brilliant commercials, now would I?) Posted by: Cath at April 5, 2005 3:27 AM Cath, unfortunately, it does not make you my neighbor. My e-neighbor perhaps. Posted by: Ambra Nykol at April 7, 2005 9:53 AM |
 "...playful philosophizing" Dan Leroy, National Review Online
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I've always been convinced that Mormons had brilliant commercials. LDS television spots always deal in principle. The subject matter is usually marriage, family, life, or some other pursuit of happiness. The commercials always made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside until I got to the end and heard, "This has been a message from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." Then there's the part where they offer you a free version of the Book of Mormon when you dial their 1-800 number, and tell you to talk to your Mormon neighbor if you have any questions. In all the years I grew up in a predominately black Seattle neighborhood, I've never had a Mormon neighbor. Never. But since I'd like to be on CBS one day, I'll just stop there.
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Welcome back.
What is scandalous is misinformation and outright lies spread through poorly devised abstinence only education (eg, HIV can be spread through sweat and tears."):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26623-2004Dec1.html
What is scandalous is the fact that abstinence pledges DO NOT lead to a reduction in STD rates for the simple reason that most kids ultimately don't follow through, and when they finally do engage in sex, they are not educated on how to protect themselves:
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/children/articles/2004/03/10/study_questions_effectiveness_of_teenage_virginity_pledges/