A commercial funded by US and UK funded AIDS prevention programs, notably USAID, was recently pulled from television. The commercial depicts two Kenyan mothers in the market place. One excitedly tells the other that she is having an extra-martial affair. Her friend replies not with concern for her friend’s family and marriage, but rather reminds her to “make a condom part of the plan.” In response to the commercial, a public outcry arose. Christian and Muslim leaders called on the Communications Commission of Kenya to remove the commercial from the airways, noting that the commercial aired during primetime airings.
The commercial called, “Weka Condom Mpangoni”, which translates to, “use a condom when having an affair”, was extremely offensive to a highly religious population. Bishop Julius Kalu of the Anglican Church of Kenya stated that the commercial promoted extra-marital affairs and casual sex. One woman interviewed by BBC commented that the fact that a mother figure was used in the commercial makes the situation worse because the mother is the one who stand for families and teach children the good morals they should have within the community.
A representative from the agencies who produced the commercial, Dr. Peter Cherutich of National AIDS and STI Control, claimed that extra-materical affairs are just a part of “reality” and that condom use should be promoted in these situations. It is extremely unfortunate that we have come to accept the sadness of disabled families simply as “reality”. Although one can not deny that these relations happen, should we not be promoting programs that help couples to strengthen and heal their marriage, instead of promoting spouses to have affairs outside of marriage without any seemingly obvious consequences? What USAID does not take into consideration is the emotional, psychological and social effects of extra-marital affairs on the children of broken marriages and the larger community as a whole.
Although USAID professes to be promoting AID/HIV protection, what the organization needs to take into account is a person’s emotional and mental state, not just physical well-being. This leads to an over-sexualized culture as well as the loss of human dignity. The commerical is embedded below:
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