Dear Editor,

Publimedia, an advertising company that administers the bus ads of “Empresa Municipal de Transportes” (EMT, Madrid), has vetoed an ad campaign launched by “Catholics for Choice”, a pro-abortion association, which promotes of the use of condoms. It planned to launch an ad campaign with the following slogan: “We believe in God, we believe that sex is sacred, we believe in taking care of one another, and we believe in the use of condoms. This campaign was scheduled to be launched during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Madrid in August.”

Publimedia decided to reject the ad campaign after judging it to be offensive. The company assessed that the slogan could hurt the sensitivity of much of the population.

The rejection of ad campaigns is a Publimedia initiative that is warned beforehand on the contracts that it stipulates with its clients. Rejection happens under certain circumstances. Among them is the insolence and inappropriateness of ad content.

Catholics for Choice, with its main branch in San Francisco, was informed of the veto. Its advertising agency will continue its attempts for the ads to reach the streets and the masses. In recent years, it has launched various ad campaigns at an international level with the aim of promoting sex education and the use of the condom as a means to avoid the transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Meanwhile, Edward Green, chief of HIV/AIDS prevention at Harvard University, gave the assurance to the Catholic News Agency that condoms have worsened the situation in Africa. Green affirms that ever since HIV/AIDS took Africa by storm, the condom industry has executed a marketing strategy in order to gain subsidies for condom production and distribution in Africa. The “death business” has arrived in the continent.

Green agrees with Uganda’s strategy: aboriginal education to reduce promiscuity. Uganda has effectively decreased its HIV/AIDS transmission rate by two-thirds, because this strategy has encouraged abstinence before marriage while promoting fidelity after marriage.

Clemente Ferrer

Madrid, Spain

clementeferrer3@gmail.com