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Sunday, Nov 8, 2015 3:00 PM UTC
Ads for erectile dysfunction, breast augmentation, no problem. Where are the ads for an essential women’s service?
We use women's bodies in ads, but somehow advertising abortion services is taboo. What's the deal?
Topics: Abortion, Advertising, erectile dysfunction, ads, abortion services, Life News
I’m flipping through channels on a quiet Wednesday evening. My child is sleeping and my partner is reading and I am searching for a way to shut off my brain and turn on my lazy. Of course, in my search for good old-fashioned trash television, I’m viewing a series of seemingly unending ads.
I see an ad for cheeseburgers. A woman’s breasts are being used to sell a double-stacked mound of beef, dripping with condiments and garnished with over-fried sides.
I see three separate ads on three separate channels for products used to treat erectile dysfunction. A couple sitting in bathtubs, holding hands. A man and a woman smile at one another, not-so-subtle implications flying all over the place.
I see an ad for breast augmentation at a local surgical clinic. I can make my body that much more desirable if I only give them a call and shell out a few thousand dollars.
There’s an ad for depression medication and an ad for the newest line of mascara and another two ads for hair dye.
And while I am attempting to relax and turn my brain off, instead it shifts into overdrive. Why is it that I never see an ad for abortion services? It’s a useful and even lifesaving medical procedure. One in three women will seek out abortion services in their lifetime and it is, after all, completely legal. Women’s bodies are constantly being used to advertise a wide variety of products, and medical procedures — both necessary and elective — are consistently being highlighted in 30-second spots in between my favorite shows.
So why is it that a medical procedure that so many women will undergo and that we all have the right to know about is one we whisper about among friends or to a stranger on the other end of a telephone? Why are we willing to use women’s bodies in ads, but rarely see ads that would benefit women’s bodies?
A week later, I had my answer.
Carafem, a health clinic specializing in abortion by providing women with a safe, comfortable and supportive environment, recently tried to advertise its health services and unique approach to abortion on the Metro Transit Authority (MTA) buses and trains.
It was denied.
The organization’s ads, according to Outfront Media (which handles advertising for MTA), were deemed inappropriate because they mentioned the word “abortion,” therefore violating MTA’s policy of not letting issue-based advertising on its system. In an email to Carafem — shared with me by the organization — Outfront Media’s rep states, “Unfortunately, it looks like any copy submitted by Carafem will not be approved by Metro.”
Since when is a medical procedure a social issue?
Does that mean the MTA would refuse an ad from, say, the Cancer Society? What about Viagra, used to treat a medical condition that plagues a large number of men? What about OB-GYN services and birthing centers? Are those considered issue-based practices?
Likewise, a company called Thinx, which sells period-proof underwear, was met with a similar treatment.
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