A college in California was planning on giving out free condoms in their daily newspaper. At Cal State Fullerton, there was supposed to be an issue, coming out November 14th, which would include free condoms. After complaints from a few people about the nature of the advertisement for the condom giveaway, the campus administrators decided that this issue simply wasn’t one they wanted to go to print.
The paper had made a deal with the student health center on campus to give away about 4,500 condoms in this issue of the paper. It was supposed to be an encouragement for safe sex among college students. The safe sex giveaway was promoted with a campaign in recent weeks, in order to advertise this issue of the paper. The promotional campaign was actually what started the complaints, because the posters for the giveaway depicted two stick figures in a position simulating safe sex. This was what led to the complaints, which is what led to the school administration pulling the plug on the operation to promote safe sex.
The Dean of Students, Bob Palmer, said that even though the ad was what led to him thinking about banning the giveaway of condoms promoting safe sex, it was the idea of the actual giveaway that led to his decision. He believed that not everyone who picked up the paper to read it necessarily wanted to have a condom fall out of it. He also said that with the way that newspapers are read and discarded, there would probably be condoms all over the campus that would have to be picked up. He believed that putting a coupon in the paper for a free condom would be a better way to go to promote safe sex.
The student journalists were not happy about the decision. They were not happy with the student health center for backing off after the Dean made his announcement. The health center and the advertising sales director for the paper, Stephanie Birditt, had been working on the giveaway for the entire semester. The health center had agreed to provide the condoms, if the newspaper would be willing to pay for the promotion of the giveaway. Everything had been going according to plan, until the posters that were used in the promotion were called pornographic by some. The editor of the paper does not believe that the coupons will have the same effect. He believes that providing condoms would have been a way to at least protect some people against pregnancy or diseases, and that not too many students are going to feel comfortable going to the student center to redeem their coupon, resulting in a less effective safe sex message. The newspaper spent about 800 dollars on the promotion, and feels that they were slighted because the poster had originally been approved by the Dean of Students Office. They feel that their free speech has been marred.
The dean of students stated that he has no problem with students giving away free condoms or promoting safe sex, he just does not want to see condoms in the paper. The more appropriate thing to do would be the coupons promoting safe sex, according to him. The students with the paper might not agree, but they have no choice in the matter, as the decision has been handed down. Hopefully they will consider other options and come back with a bigger, better and even more exciting safe sex campaign next semester.
For more information visit: Free Condom Distribution in College Paper Won’t Happen
September 21, 2024