are you fucking kidding me, pharmaceutical companies?
The email I just sent to hulu after seeing an APPALLING advertisement in the middle of In Plain Sight:
To Whom It May Concern:
While watching an episode of In Plain Sight, I happened to catch one of the HPV vaccine advertisements that you are airing. As a sociologist who has taught courses in human sexuality, and as a woman of reproductive age, I feel strongly that all people should pursue the HPV vaccine to protect their health. However, I was incredulous that anyone could air as fear-mongering and irresponsible an ad as I saw.
The ad opens with a woman telling her story of an abnormal pap smear, which she then links to cervical cancer and the fear that she will die. At no point does this ad emphasize the simple fact that these connections are far from inevitable. The narrator only strongly admonishes viewers that "this doesn't have to happen" to us, if we get vaccinated for HPV. As a college instructor in a human sexuality class, I have had to explain to numerous 19 and 20-year-old women that an abnormal pap smear is actually relatively common, that most of them clear themselves up within six months, that they do not necessarily mean cervical cancer, and that even if they do, cervical cancer is easy to treat in most cases. Unfortunately, their doctors have not taken the time to provide this explanation, and this ad directly feeds into a culture of ignorance and fear that leaves them afraid to even ask questions about what an abnormal pap smear might actually mean.
I advise everyone I know to pursue the HPV vaccine to protect themselves and the health of the general population. I also, however, strongly advocate for responsible and engaged medical care, because I know that the lack of these qualities frequently drives young women away from preventive care entirely. This advertisement does not provide any realistic arguments for receiving the HPV vaccine. All it does is make young women terrified for no reason. I consider it morally reprehensible and grossly irresponsible from a public health perspective, and I strongly urge you, and its sponsor, to pull it from circulation before it does even more damage.
Cabell Gathman
PhD candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison
I am literally shaking with rage here. There was actually just a whole thread on the wedding website forums where I hang out from a woman who got an abnormal pap and had no idea what it meant, and I wasn't kidding about all the students I've had to calm down in similar situations. Women get TERRIFIED about this, for no goddamn reason at all. I was terrified when I was 17 and had an abnormal pap and got a form letter telling me I needed to come back in six months, with no explanation and no access to WebMD.
I can't believe anyone would try this shit to sell their fucking patent, except that I guess that's just the natural product of a for-profit healthcare system. Fucking shit, man.
To Whom It May Concern:
While watching an episode of In Plain Sight, I happened to catch one of the HPV vaccine advertisements that you are airing. As a sociologist who has taught courses in human sexuality, and as a woman of reproductive age, I feel strongly that all people should pursue the HPV vaccine to protect their health. However, I was incredulous that anyone could air as fear-mongering and irresponsible an ad as I saw.
The ad opens with a woman telling her story of an abnormal pap smear, which she then links to cervical cancer and the fear that she will die. At no point does this ad emphasize the simple fact that these connections are far from inevitable. The narrator only strongly admonishes viewers that "this doesn't have to happen" to us, if we get vaccinated for HPV. As a college instructor in a human sexuality class, I have had to explain to numerous 19 and 20-year-old women that an abnormal pap smear is actually relatively common, that most of them clear themselves up within six months, that they do not necessarily mean cervical cancer, and that even if they do, cervical cancer is easy to treat in most cases. Unfortunately, their doctors have not taken the time to provide this explanation, and this ad directly feeds into a culture of ignorance and fear that leaves them afraid to even ask questions about what an abnormal pap smear might actually mean.
I advise everyone I know to pursue the HPV vaccine to protect themselves and the health of the general population. I also, however, strongly advocate for responsible and engaged medical care, because I know that the lack of these qualities frequently drives young women away from preventive care entirely. This advertisement does not provide any realistic arguments for receiving the HPV vaccine. All it does is make young women terrified for no reason. I consider it morally reprehensible and grossly irresponsible from a public health perspective, and I strongly urge you, and its sponsor, to pull it from circulation before it does even more damage.
Cabell Gathman
PhD candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison
I am literally shaking with rage here. There was actually just a whole thread on the wedding website forums where I hang out from a woman who got an abnormal pap and had no idea what it meant, and I wasn't kidding about all the students I've had to calm down in similar situations. Women get TERRIFIED about this, for no goddamn reason at all. I was terrified when I was 17 and had an abnormal pap and got a form letter telling me I needed to come back in six months, with no explanation and no access to WebMD.
I can't believe anyone would try this shit to sell their fucking patent, except that I guess that's just the natural product of a for-profit healthcare system. Fucking shit, man.