What if...it's too late!

As we were talking about media campaign in class, there was one health commercial that stuck out in my mind. On Hulu.com (television website) they always have 30 second commercial breaks during shows, and usually the same one is shown throughout an entire episode (the Old Spice one was on this website, too). This particular one was about HPV. It starts out with ominous music and a girl's voice saying something to the effect of:

"What if you meet a boy...what if he likes you back...what if you get married...what if you want kids...what if it's too late..." Essentially, it is terrifying. Their scare tactics worked on me. In my excitement to show one of my public health friends, I tried to find it online, but instead came across a Hulu blog about the commercials they air. Everyone seemed a little heated that it was so intimidating. Personally, I don't really see the issue if it makes people feel more susceptible and encourages them to take a healthy action (Health Belief!). On the same site, someone had blogged that the commercials would stop coming up if you changed your gender on Hulu.com to Male instead of Female. This meaning that males are not getting the 'you are susceptible to HPV!!' message that the women are getting. Hmm...I was a little bit offended that the very people that are equally vectors of the virus are not also being given this information.

The commercial definitely used peripheral route processes. There may have been a little bit of information about genital warts and effects of the virus, but the part that I remember is the 'what if...' and the immediate emotional terror that it brought, right before I made an appointment at the doctor. This might be something to ponder while doing our campaign.