From Horror Movies to Winged Pads

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Oct 22, 2010

By Masterwordsmith

RPK’s latest post on The (confused) way forward is par excellence because he skilfully debunked every single fallacious proposition that some put forward recently in what could be seen as feeble attempts to mask pressing problems that we are facing during this challenging period. In fact, one might even regard the developments as a circus of comedy acts.

In The Star, Johor Baru Puteri Umno chief Azura Mohd Afandi urged the Information Ministry to curb television shows and commercials that could lead people astray from the right religious paths. She said, “Horror films and commercials deemed too sexy for young viewers might lead to deviant teachings. For example, commercials on sanitary pads are openly shown on TV and this could influence the young to get involved in social ills,” said Azura, urging the ministry to increase shows that teach good values and religious practices.

As far back as the 1960’s, I remember RTM screened old black and white horror movies such as Pontianak, Orang Minyak and other offerings. There is no record or sociological study of how the screening of such movies has had a direct bearing on the increase of social ills.

I watched a lot of Dracula and horror flicks and my taste for the macabre type of entertainment has not influenced me to commit any social ill, neither has it made me a blood-thirsty vampire!

Undeniably, some violent television programs have some ill effects on society such as the desensitization to violence. Many studies have been carried out to see the effect of violence on crime, delinquency and other social problems such as the one carried out by Bandura et al and other researchers which you can read from the many links over HERE.

As for commercials on sanitary pads, all advertisers have to abide by the Code of Advertising Practice as spelled out HERE . As such, I do not see the purpose of bringing it up at such a meeting when there is already a board that governs all advertisements.

I am not sure why some women MAY regard sanitary pads so negatively. Is it such a powerful and influential object that it can compel one who has laid eyes on a sanitary pad to commit a crime?

The Malaysian Insider featured an excellent article by Dina Zaman HERE on the same topic and she wrote:

As a still menstruating woman, I have yet to witness how sanitary pads and their ads could lead one to sin. I have always thought that sanitary pads are a bane to women and frighten the hell out of men, especially bloody and wet ones.

I do agree with her when she said some people have ‘four screws loose’. If ever Jim Carey, Steve Martin or Russell Peters run out of ideas for comedic lines, perhaps they should study our MSM reports – plenty of fodder for them here.

What happens when one beholds a sanitary pad?

Now any decent advertisement would feature a pure white cottony pad. How on earth can a white cotton sanitary pad that is folded into two or three spur one to commit a crime?

I mean if one sees a bloody pad, it may bring to remembrance BLOOD and Violence. Note – it MAY bring to remembrance…but then again, it is a different type of blood from that shed in a crime scene!

What would a woman think of?

* The length
* The packing
* Unique Selling Propositions such as special gel or special ‘architecture’ to prevent back leaks etc
* Price
* Special Offers
* Packing
* Function eg heavy flow or day use etc
* Brand Name
* Free Gifts
etc etc

And I am sure if I were to stand at Guardian Pharmacy tomorrow to conduct a survey of say 1000 respondents, I am likely to discover that 99.9% of them will not think of sex or crime or other social ills when they look at a sanitary pad advertisement.