By David Kenney
I never knew casual sex could be a lesson in style. Getting to it might involve using some style, but learning style from the experience bewilders me. Somehow though, makers of the contraceptive Alesse are promoting such ideas through ads.
Gracing C-train stops citywide, Alesse’s slogans include, "No one remembers how you arrive, it’s how you leave." Leave how? Laid but not pregnant? Suggestion through advertisement is nothing new, but, come on, how much more does sex need to be encouraged as a contact sport? Someone might as well just promote the merits of STDs.
Another Alesse ad features the catch phrase, "A lesson in time management." While I can understand the liberation of being able to control your body’s capabilities, does time management mean just using the pill without a condom? Come on, kids, forget the condom and get to nookie ASAP.
Such an interpretation of Alesse’s ads likely strays from the ads’ true intention: to control pregnancy and/or periods. Still, since when is controlling your period considered chic? I can just hear the girls now, "Oh that Marcie, she’s so cool, you never know she’s on the rag."
While past condom ads that told us we can "get some" were really no different, the increasing amount of ads selling that thought are both annoying and insulting. Are relationships passé? Somehow I doubt it. Then again, maybe it properly echoes the "sex on the first date" attitude of many.
Constantly, I hear female friends complain of "sex on the first date" types. However, allowing ourselves to be desensitized by such promoted ideas does nothing to stop the cycle. After all, no one likes having to fight off rabid sexual animals.
Maybe someone should start advertising cures for the sexually addicted. I can see it now: "Getting too much, too often? Sore from excessive rubbage or STDs? Get out of the bedroom and into a REAL relationship for once." Nah, no one would make any money off it.
That said, thank goodness there are ads educating people of other options.
However, maybe there are better ways to inform people of birth control options. People aren’t going to stop doing it, but don’t treat them like they’re stupid or gullible. Not all of us are 15 and getting "creative" for the first time. Respect for the consumer would be nice. Now that would be a lesson in style.