What’s worse: a broken watermelon in your living room or a perforated uterus? If the latest Mirena commercials are to be believed, the first one is horrific; the second, just one of many possible side effects. This new series of commercials features a mother with two children, sometimes adorable, with a nice house and plans to travel. Suddenly they make a mess and she is saying, “Maybe I had enough”. Then there is another sweet moment, followed by a “…or maybe not.”
This whole picture of family life is totally jaded. When you marry someone it is “for better or for worse”. When you have children, it is for all of those moments of all kinds. It is the whole experience of what God is going to give you in that little mystery package you carry for nine months.
People don’t believe that a contraceptive mentality leads to abortion. Why, then, does New York City, which boasts high availability of family planning, have a 41 percent abortion rate? It is this very picture that is presented in the commercials. You can keep your perfect life with your well-formed plans, or you can throw caution to the wind…and something unpleasant might happen to your off-white parlor.
I, for one, try to keep a neat living room, but wouldn’t trade cleanliness or a bigger bank account or a trip to Europe for less kids. Finger paint on the walls, moldings eaten by the dog, red ink that exploded on the piano, muddy cleats on the front porch…these to me are the marking of a happy life, filled with the love of a husband and four kids…and all their pets.
Natural family planning has the same effectiveness as the birth control pill. In its practice, the difference is the trust factor. NFP fosters trust in God, your partner, and yourself. In the outcome, it can also mean the difference between “oops” and “a blessing from God”.
If you enjoyed this post you might want to read an older post of mine, “Our Little Observers: Talking to Kids About Contraception and the Media”.
5 comments:
Thank you for posting this and the link to the other article you wrote. A week ago my nine year old was watching something family friendly and a Mirena commercial came on. I was disturbed by it and was hoping she didn't notice it. Then about five minutes later another commercial for birth control pills came on. I immediately had my husband change the channel and told our daughter to pick a DVD to watch. It wasn't even 8PM and already they were bombarding us with these commercials.
That commercial is nasty but the new one for beyaz is so over the top. The girls shopping for things in their life. It's not even husbands they pick from put significant other .. because who needs marriage and then snubbing the stork like it's something horrible to think of. It makes me want to throw something at the tv everytime I see it.
Those commercials are on all the channels, even during family-friendly stuff. I'm really offended by them. And I think they have a big part in the reason I don't watch TV much.
They definitely are targeting women as their market; there are no commercials like this during sports events. Of course, THOSE shows get Viagra et al, so I'm not sure which is worse.
A new "40 Days for Life" campaign begins on March 9th, our kick off in Orange County will be the Sunday before for twins that were saved during the last campaign. I will be going.
Your post brought this to mind and I am grateful for the timing. "Life is beautiful" with all its craziness and imperfections. Children are a gift for which I thank the good Lord for everyday of my life!
Thank you for bring this to mind!
Great post! I've been collecting a paper and e-file of these commercials to use in talks about the dissonance of the contraceptive mentality. I don't have cable, so I usually have to see these second-hand.
Post a Comment