03 January 2007

VD is for everybody?



I'm not sure if it made the Clap a desirable lifestyle accessory but the tone of this american sexual health advert and the song seem all wrong to me!

Apparently the film was produced in 1969 by the American Social Health Association which was always looking at new ways to educate the public about venereal disease. While the message is clear: anyone can get vd, the catchy song (dare I say infectious?) and the beautiful people give the impression that it is is somehow desirable!

9 comments:

billie said...

uh huh. :)

jams o donnell said...

And catching too! I know this is a serious subject and I am sure the makers were not intending to be anything other than sincere.. but the end result looks so funny now...

How to deal with stds now? tax on alcohol isn't the answer..

Steve Bates said...

tax on alcohol isn't the answer.. - jams

Even the most beautifully expressed semantics can suffer from faulty sin tax...

On its face, I rather like the video, but I doubt it helped much in its day. The problem in combating STD is that much of society (at least in America, and to some extent in the UK) is obsessed with combating the S along with the D. The thing most often transmitted is a lot of bad information, with STD's unsurprisingly running a close second. Faced with an ongoing barrage directed against having sex instead of a comparable flood of information on how to prevent STD's, the typical youth may well simply say WTF, ignore all the information about available protection, and endanger himself or herself.

jams o donnell said...

I must admit it seemed quite a funny ad. It certainly amused me!

AS for its effectiveness, I doubt it prevented many cases of the clap. As for the present, I am concerned that sexual health messages seem to be disregarded.. the incidence of STDs is high here and utterly needless.

Roland Dodds said...

Damn, I want the Clap more than ever!

elasticwaistbandlady said...

The accordion and "ooh la la" French feel to this made STD seem like it must be the new must have accessory this season for the fashion conscious.

jams o donnell said...

I wonder what sort of ways could they make it even more desirable... a special designer std for celebrities where the discharge changes colpur so as to harmonise with their outfit? perhaps call the clap bacteria Nesseria, the microbe d'amour....

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the actors and actresses realised what they were advertising when the film was made.

VD may be for everyone, but I didn't noticed any clergy, police or soldiers in the film.

jams o donnell said...

I wonder that myself Roger I daresay it isn't prominent on their cvs! I wonder why priests and soldiers would not touch it with a bargepole!!!