‘SEX IN CLOTHES’ CARNIVAL ADS

One cannot watch the news, for example, in peace. As the commercial breaks begin, the ads come on with appalling content. In many ways, they make the Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson Super Bowl “striptease” exposition look like child’s play!

The Carnival season has never failed to adversely affect the sanity of our people at every level. This defect in sanity has never failed to frighten decent people and generate serious concerns in their minds. Human beings voluntarily allow themselves to plunge to depths of degradation, literally reducing their dignity to the status of animals, in the Carnival madness. My specific concern today, however, has to do with the quality of television advertising which promotes the Carnival fetes and shows. This year’s ads appear to have “taken the cake.” The vulgar nature of some of the ads renders them fit only for an “adult TV” audience. Yet we are bombarded with them, numerous times for the night, during prime time.

One cannot watch the news, for example, in peace, because as the commercial breaks begin, the ads come on with appalling content. In many ways, they make the Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson Super Bowl “striptease” exposition look like child’s play! They are loaded with suggestive and provocative gestures. Then there are those which go even further, with rapid wining and pelvic region contact between male and female, that are very much like radical sex acts with clothes on. One wonders how responsible and sensitive it is to broadcast such putrid material on national television to a general audience. In fact, adult television or not, loathsome contents like these have no place on civilised television anywhere.

Acts by human beings, which are so sadly lacking in the elements of shame, decency and basic human dignity, don’t deserve promotion or projection of any type. This is especially so in this day and age where the struggles and challenges to maintain moral purity and sanity is more intense than any other time in human history. It is high time that our adults recognise that they have a very serious responsibility to be the best example, in every form of human behaviour, to our extremely vulnerable children and younger population.

None of us is perfect. None of us is an absolute saint. We are all subject to human frailties. As they say, to err is human. However, flagrant and extreme acts of obscenity and debauchery, whether or not they are labelled as culture, pleasure or the arts, are totally unacceptable. This also goes for all of us who form part of the media, which, as we know, play an awesome role in shaping the culture and sub-cultures of a society. We understand that the media seeks to reflect “the realities” of society. But given the formidable impact of media influence, there must be some definite limits to this. Of course, when it comes to the realities of society, the media, to a considerable extent, would have themselves to praise or blame, depending on what is evident.

One also wonders if there are set standards, as far as advertising agencies go, with respect to the contents of ads. It is a tragedy that, to some degree, the television houses appear to be insensitive to family viewing. Recently, there has been a rise in the awareness of the need for a higher quality of values for our children. The lack of these has been cited as the major contributor to the decay that is now prevalent in some of the nation’s school. However, with ads like these running repeatedly, it makes the task even more difficult. Everyone knows that repetition is “the key” to learning and that the sight leaves a greater impression on the mind than any of the other senses do. Therefore, images such as these are quite likely to further affect the minds and behaviour of our children.

We have seen during the Kiddies Carnival parades, young children in costumes wining as “wickedly” as they see the adults do. This has, in the past, attracted public outcry. At one time a Minister of Culture was moved to express her own concerns over the children as they gyrated their little bodies before crowds and cameras. We’ll also remember the infamous full-colour Machel Montano picture prominently featured in a daily newspaper in which the entertainer was displayed on stage in a wining pose, with a woman who was bent over in “touch toe” position. The image sparked a storm of protests from the public. The newspaper responded by issuing  a clear apology.

Television cameramen have also come under fire from public voices for shooting and transmitting extreme behaviour on the Savannah stage on Carnival days. For some time there appeared to have been a bit or improved sensitivity in this respect. But even so, Carnival day is Carnival day, and people, who by personal choice, tune in to Carnival television, may do so expecting some degree of extreme behaviour to come through the tubes. This is far different from the regular home family viewing on a regular day.

Those who decide on what they pump into the eyes and ears of our children via television must have some policy regarding respect for basic family sensibilities and decency. It is understandable that in the Carnival rush, an unfit ad or two may elude the attention of television management. A repeated and consistent flood of impurities is however a different matter. We trust that we would see a greater display of responsible television advertising.