Tuesday 9 September 2008

Government spends more on failed, ethically bankrupt, anti-life, anti-family teenage pregnancy campaign

Today’s on-line edition of Sales Promotion magazine regales us with news that Iris London, the marketing agency, has won an advertising contract from the government to promote condom use.

The deal has been struck by the government’s Central Office of Information on behalf of the Department of Health and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), which run the government’s sexual health and teenage pregnancy initiatives.

This news is replete with tragic ironies. From past experience, Iris London’s campaign promoting condoms will
  • lead to an increase in sexual ill-health
  • lead to an increase in the numbers of unborn children being killed, and
  • may lead to an increase in the number of under-age conceptions.
So the Department of Health will effectively be promoting disease; and the Department for Children, Schools and Families will effectively be promoting
  • more killing of unborn children
  • the blighting of children’s lives, and
  • the undermining of families (as parents are barred from knowing about their children’s confidential access to birth control).
The Sales Promotion magazine article says:

“Campaigns will aim to engage the young audiences at timely and actionable moments to help reduce the occurrence of sexually transmitted infections and under-18 conception rates as well as ensuring accurate information and advice is available about sex and relationships for those under 16.”

The record over virtually a decade shows: it won’t work. We should ask our MPs to find out how much this campaign will cost – another drop in the vast ocean of money the government has spent on its failed, ethically bankrupt, anti-life, anti-family teenage pregnancy campaign.