Is your teenager aware of the cost of being a parent? If you haven’t taught them and you live in New York the answer might be as close as your nearest bus stop. Despite the drop in teen pregnancy over the years, Mayor Bloomberg’s office is taking it upon themselves to make sure adolescents know the “real cost of teen pregnancy.”
The advertisements, which will run on subways, buses, and social media platforms, feature a multiracial cast of babies in various states of distress accompanied by text that explains how hard their lives will be because of their parents’ ages. One image of a dark skinned little girl includes the message, “Honestly mom…chances are he won’t stay with you. What happens to me?” Another features a crying toddler with curly blond hair telling the world, “I’m twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen.”
While the focus is to help youth understand the challenges that they may be faced with should they have a child that young, a major concern is the message it sends to youth. It might be fair to say that for many already pregnant teens judgment will mostly likely be cast regardless of what direction they choose to take going forward. For more on this visit Ebony.
BMWK — Do you think the ad campaign is an appropriate way to discourage teen pregnancy? How do you think it will impact teens who are already pregnant?