The risqué business of saving lives
Marketing is often a risqué business.
From the hot, scantily clad woman opening her mouth widely and seductively, moving in slow motion to take a giant bite out of a fast food burger, to titillating double entendres like the chewing gum ad from deep in the Wayback Machine that featured a couple of hotties urging you to “Double your pleasure, double your fun,” it has thrived on sex and innuendo.
It carries over to today, of course, as today’s marketeers and advertising people know their audiences and how to reach them.
They’ve always used the latest technology, demographics, and surveying to get to our most primal levels.
That burger commercial with the hot young woman?
Aimed at some guy sitting at home in his recliner with a beer belly overhang spilling into his lap. That’s the guy who’ll buy that burger, because, well, the hot chick told him to do so, and he’d do anything to get close to that or any other hot chick.
What seems like millennia ago, there was the jeans ad featuring a close-up of Brooke Shields’ backside in a pair of tight denims with her explaining “Nothing comes between me and my Calvin Kleins.” The ad campaign, featuring the 15-year-old telling us she was going commando under those jeans, bordered on kiddie porn.
Sizzle, and lots of it, was the thing when former NASCAR racer Danica Patrick did an ad campaign for Go Daddy!, an Internet domain registrar and web hosting company. Her onscreen sizzle, by the way, proved to be much hotter than her racing skills.
Flip through any edition of “Vanity Fair,” “Cosmopolitan,” “Esquire,” or any other high-end magazine and you’ll see more sexually oriented advertising than you can shake a limp noodle at.
Sex sells.
And whether the rubes in the governor’ office realize it or not, that message can save lives.
That’s why it is disconcerting to learn that the governor of Utah has quashed a program to distribute condoms to high-risk individuals to prevent HIV and AIDS.
He said that the language and branding used in the program was too risqué.
The campaign, which included the free distribution of 130,000 condoms, billboard and social media advertising, and an informational website aimed at HIV awareness and treatment, was paid for by a $353,000 grant from the federal government.
The condoms came with Utah-specific branding with the individual packages labeled “Greatest Sex on Earth,” “Uintah Sex?, Enjoy your Mountin’,” “Toss The Jello Salad, SL, UT,” “Explore Utah’s Caves,” “Don’t Go Bare, This Is The Place,” and “Put Your Arch Into It.” Gov. Gary Herbert ordered the recall of the condoms, which he described as being too provocative, adding that he was against the use of “sexual innuendo as part of a taxpayer-funded program,” according to a report in the Salt Lake Tribune. The campaign had nothing to do with any Utah taxes, and he should have just turned it over to Utah Department of Health and kept his nose out of it.
But UDOH spokeswoman Jenny Johnson had his back, saying the department’s goal is to educate the at-risk population of the state, but to do so in “a way that’s appropriate.”
Now, according to recent figures, there is certainly a lot of other “inappropriate” behavior taking place within the state. As The Trib story noted, incidents of gonorrhea and chlamydia are continually on the rise with, in fact, more cases of chlamydia reported in Utah County last year than flu.
You can bet your temple recommend that these folks are ready for something a little different than “just say no.”
But the prudes who sit in governance will have none of it.
They would rather, it seems, see people infected as some sort of celestial retribution for their sins rather than preventing disease and, yes, death. Maybe it’s just me, but I see God as something more merciful, more benevolent, and much kinder than that. Rather than “the angry man in the sky,” I think of God more in terms of forgiveness, light, and love.
Yes, there’s a harshness to our existence, but perhaps we are faced with disease, famine, war, and hatred to learn how to overcome and advance humankind. My take on it all, to be sure, but it makes more sense than buying your eternal salvation with tithing.
And since faith is on the table, I have to admit that I have lost faith in all forms of Utah governance, from the menial local level to the arrogance of state leaders who reject out of hand the will of the people and in its place try to legislate morality.
HIV, the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases, and teen pregnancy are serious issues that shouldn’t be talked about in hushed tones or behind closed doors.
We must educate our children from a young age and be straight with them about what truly is on the line.
The thing is that although you may want that little girl to remain virginal until her wedding, the odds are that she won’t. Does that mean she should be exposed to the possibility of disease that can maim or kill her or the responsibility of raising a baby when she’s barely out of puberty?
Should that strapping young son be saddled with taking a minimum-wage job to support a family and foregoing an education because he became a father way too young?
Do we really want to punish people for who they love, regardless of gender or race or creed? Is it any of our business?
What is our business is the task of educating and protecting everybody, and sometimes the language necessary to do so isn’t always the prettiest prose.
We need to grab people by the shoulders and shake some sense into them sometimes, even at the risk of offending the uptight and puritanical prudes.
The governor’s arrogance has put a lot of people at risk as he tries to tiptoe through a controversial issue instead of challenging it head-on.
I can only hope that whoever is elected in November has more understanding of how to tackle these issues and the guts to carry through.
It’s clear Herbert has neither.
Articles related to “The risqué business of saving lives”
Eight ways to fortify marital bonds and rekindle your marriage
Former Mormon mission president accused of sexual assault, and somehow that’s news
