ETHICAL ADVERTISING IN HEALTH-BASED INITIATIVES

    How potent a power is [communication technology] destined to

    become in the civilization of the world!  This binds together

    by a vital cord all the nations of the earth.  It is

    impossible that old prejudices and hostilities should longer

    exist, while such an instrument has been created for an

    exchange of thought between all nations of the earth.

 ~Briggs and Maverick (1858)

Have you ever wondered why you like to read press stories of events that you already witnessed? Any soccer, basketball, gol... (Wait, that’s not a sport) fans? The media takes our love for using our wits and gives us a way to make them into our own reality. The media adds a sense of hyper-reality to experiences that we already know, feeding our desires and keeping us addicted. The media keeps you coming back for more. It’s probably the reason you’re reading this right now.

The advent of technology brought about advertising as a tool of marketing and its abilities and reach cannot be underscored enough. Advertising is a balance between being a reflection of the society from which it is drawn from and the media’s ability to create perceptions and create or distort realities. Once we understand adverts and advertising then our mindsets on very many things will change and our valence towards critical thought will be re-ignited.

. There exists an “imperative requirement’’ that adverts should respect the dignity of the human person, his freedom, duty to make responsible decisions and these can be through content, medium and impact sought by the advertiser.

There’s been a massive revolution in our advertising world when people eventually accepted that it is not the same as marketing and advertising firms emerged! The moral content has reduced and out came a Pwani Oil ad that tries, oh so hard, to paint a relation between cooking oil, the beach and a girl in a bikini. That doesn’t happen when I cook with it. Can I sue them for misrepresentation? Anyone?

Of particular interest at this point, though is ethics in advertising and specifically in health-based matters in Kenya. I thought that this was one area where ethics was sacrosanct but recent events educate me that products/services no matter the nature are sold with the same ruthless aim; reach the most number of people with the end justifying the means. I read this somewhere- I use chromosomes in advertising because I know sex cells. That sums up the facts on the ground. Sex appeal is the laziest form of marketing (I just thought I’d express that feeling I hold)

There are particular advertisements that caught my eye:

The original ‘mpango wa kando’ advert, that drew hue and cry from the masses sparking endless debates

The revised ‘mpango wa kando’ advert featuring two women

The revised ‘mpango wa kando’ advert featuring two men

The government and USAID sponsored, contraceptive ads

The breast cancer awareness advertisement

The original ‘mpango wa kando’ advert, that drew hue and cry from the masses sparking endless debates

(‘mpango wa kando’ meaning one’s ‘side dish’ or illegitimate partner)

In the advert there are two ladies talking. Upon inquiry, one lady opens up about her husband-more like points out his imperfections and talks about his drunkenness. Her friend also asks about her ‘mpango wa kando’ and she opens up about how he’s been there for her and praises him. Her friend listens to her. Laughs with her then advises her to use condoms as a show of love for her children.

The alarming figures that up to 48% of new HIV infections were within marriage got many concerned and this was the brainchild born. The ad, according to the promoters, was meant to promote for use of condoms in this relationship but it came off as promoting these relationships and thus drew so much debate and criticism that it was withdrawn.

A few problems that I saw with the ad; The advert showed the women demeaning her husband as an irresponsible drunk, praising her lover as an escape from her woes and showed use of condoms in these relationships as a sign of love. I am naïve enough to think that staying faithful was a sign of love but these ads corrected my view. The ads also air at prime time when most children are watching television and so what does this teach children both consciously and subconsciously? An argument against this would be that the ad addresses the sexually active population (between the ages of 16-45) though, and for it to reach the population, prime time is the appropriate time. Can the ad effectively bring the message out and at the same time protect the values that we as Africans so dearly hold?

The revised ‘mpango wa kando’ advert featuring two women

The revised ‘mpango wa kando’ advert featuring two men

Following the uproar, the ad was withdrawn and two ‘revised’ ads put up as their replacements. The first ad has two ladies. They hold a conversation and after the mention of the mpango wa kando, her friend tells her about the importance of using condoms. In the second ad there are two men. The first talks about his mpango wa kando and how much fun she is. His friend admonishes him through telling him about the consequences, telling him about his own experiences but yields in the end and tells him that if he still insists on it, then he should use a condom.

The ad with the ladies, still does not talk about the negative impact of these relationships. If the intention of the ad was to reduce new HIV infections then shouldn’t that be one of the cornerstones? The descriptions of these partners is always bright and exciting making us think that having one is the way to go? The condoms are a minor theme and feature in the last few seconds as a matter of last resort. With the title being ‘Weka condom mpangoni,’ then shouldn’t the ad be centered around the effectiveness and benefits of condoms? If the ideal situation is faithfulness, couldn’t this be worked into the ad? Could the timing be changed so that the ad doesn’t reach the child audience which doesn’t have the ability to discern or an internal moral system?

The government and USAID sponsored, contraceptive ads

There are several ads but all of them have the same structure- They show a group of ladies talking about contraceptives, one of the ladies expresses her reservations about contraceptives saying what she believes about them and the video stops and someone corrects them talking about how effective they are.

Anyone with a computer and internet access who searches for contraceptives will see hundreds of sites coming up showing the side effects of contraceptives. The makers of the ad are ethically obligated to show both sides and give an accurate representation of issues. The ad is also supposed to be informative-the ad doesn’t show how different contraceptives work and the fact that some methods may not work with all people. The conflation of all the reservations that women have bundled into one word, myths, is also wrong as women have a right to be concerned about anything that may have an adverse effect on their reproductive health.

The breast cancer awareness advertisement

Sometime last year, I saw an ad as I was driving in Hurlingham, I passed by a billboard that slightly distracted me. A topless woman with her hands covering her breasts and somewhere at the top was a small pink ribbon with ‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ as the heading (I can’t remember the wording clearly because it took up such a small portion of the billboard.)

Was a topless woman the only way to talk about breast cancer awareness? Using a similar model, how would they represent prostate or cervical cancer? Who exactly was this ad targeting? Maybe it was a way of ‘baring’ the topic?

I don’t know if my eutopic view will change anyone who reads this but I believe that ads can be done in an exciting, creative, brilliant and ETHICAL manner. It takes one person to come out and call out irresponsible ads and campaigns and enough people will make a change. Ads might one day go back to being child friendly. Except condom ads. Those are bad for you, children.