THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE JAMAICAN Public Service Company's (JPSCo) advertisement showing a small child in an electric chair created quite a stir with the Bureau of Standards and other members of society.
We do agree that the ad is quite distasteful; we also believe that if an adult should replace the child in the picture then all those who are so concerned now would have a change of heart. This reaction we believe is more disturbing than the ad in itself, since the meaning behind the ad would remain the same.
The objective of JPSCo, like all other advertisers, is to catch the attention of everyone and this we believe has been accomplished with this advertisement. What we find quite sad is that this ad has caused such uproar and yet there are so many other ads that are used by companies that have gone by unnoticed.
There are companies that use sex to sell their products, with women barely clothed and men showing more than half their bodies. It has become quite an eye-catching, eye-popping experience which we are exposing our children to.
Everyday our children are bombarded with all sorts of garbage in the newspaper, on the television and even on the radio, where advertisers use erotic sounds to spruce up their advertisements. We sit now and complain about how much this JPSCO ad is improper and suggests abuse when we have allowed other advertisers to abuse the minds of our children for years. While JPSCO's ad might appear to some to be inappropriate, yet we at the Y.E.S. Programme see it as painting a picture of what is already going on, not only in our homes but also in the streets.
As a nation, we need to find the root of our problem instead of trying to attack the 'branches'.
The Jamaica Public Service thought that they could get away with this ad since as a society we have allowed so many other ads, some worse than this one, to go unmentioned. It is good to see such an interest being taken at this time but unless something is done now, the next time might be too late.
We are, etc.,
STUDENTS (BATCH 5) YOUTH ENHANCEMENT SERVICE (Y.E.S.)
BETTY LAWRENCE
