Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Big Bad Media and the Power of Trend

Having 2 younger children I am constantly aware of the images they are subjected to on TV, in magazines, online etc. That awareness never leaves me even when I am not in “protection mode”.

The irony is never lost on me however, that we can advertise seduction at nauseating rates, yet condom ads aren’t allowed… Viagra is advertised during prime time and Guardasil is advertised as cervical cancer prevention rather than HPV prevention- a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cancer…even now I am tempted to get out my soap box… but I won’t.

Rather I will turn to the audience… the media feeds its audience what it wants. If the advertising didn’t work, and people stopped buying their products because they were all so offended by the images, media would change. But America has a voracious appetite for garbage; we are obese, broke, and dumber than we prefer to think.

We buy into the hype that a bra will make you look and feel like the models wearing the “Nakeds”, eating the giant hamburger with ketchup dripping down your chest will result in your looking like Paris Hilton (I’m sure the 50 grams of fat don’t really exist in those burgers) and that using Just For Men hair gel on your beard will get you laid by someone 15 years your junior instantaneously.







So how do we sneak in the “vegetables” with the Mac N Cheese Media?
Hide it in trend.

I bought this great cookbook for my finicky kids who weren’t eating enough vegetables… you sneak the veggies into their food by pureeing them and cooking it into the stuff they love. They never see that cauliflower coming.

So instead of the serious talks about STDs and HIV, how devastating they can be to your life, and how easily they are spread, we will wrap prevention in a cute little compact, make it cool to carry and the thing you MUST have.

So put on your “Nakeds”, grab your Just In Case compact (I bet you can fit a little blue pill in there too) find that guy at the sports bar with his “Just For Men” beard that will instantly turn you on, and head out for a triple hamburger dripping in ketchup and special sauce. I’m sure it will be the greatest night of your life…

Getting people to carry condoms is half the battle, getting people to use them correctly is the other half… We will do our part by making it chic to carry a condom in a trendy compact; the rest is up to you, my voracious audience. I hope you don’t taste the veggies… but enjoy the whole meal.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You are so right on in this...we LOVE JUST IN CASE! We gotta have it!

Shhhhhh - tell your friends..