The recent campaign by the Ministry of Health with the tagline 'Pinch, leave an inch, roll', has come under fire from certain sectors of the society. Esther Tyson, principal of Ardenne High School, wrote an article in The Sunday Gleaner condemning the campaign, calling for serious adjustments to the message. Her new tagline for the campaign would state, "Value self, value others; self-control and true love waits."

We live in a society that is oversexualised not only with images but also in our music. The fact remains that our young people are having unprotected sex and the Ministry of Health recognises this. Any campaign that is geared towards educating and influencing the use of condoms with the youth must be embraced.

The youth globally are faced with choices daily and, most times, the values we would ideally want them to accept are ignored. Societies today are not projecting the conservative values of which we are told. Instead, the young are bombarded with the acceptable behaviours of promiscuity and unsafe sexual habits.

The Jamaican society has been characterised as a Christian one. However, one would think the Church would be vocal on certain issues but, on the contrary, they are numb and quiet, leaving a sector of society to be leaders teaching our children that unprotected sex is real love. Our youth today have taken that message as gospel, preaching it to those with whom they come in contact, developing a culture where we have accepted sexual activity among young individuals as a norm.

How do we now combat this problem? The advertising campaign suggested by Esther Tyson to promote the value of self cannot work. Young individuals are battling low self-esteem and a society where they are searching for role models. Valuing others? Jamaica is currently one of the murder capitals of the world. We have no respect for life in this country. True love? If research should be conducted, I am positive the percentage would be high of children born out of wedlock. Therefore, the campaign that Tyson suggests is nonsensical, and cannot work in this society.

The Ministry of Health's campaign was spot on. Recognising that young people today are participating in activities like this, arming them with the correct information can only assist. The campaign teamed up with popular show 'Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall' and it was a perfect match because the target audience were fans of the popular show.

It is time we accept the world we live in, at present, and start accepting the truth. We live in a society where sexual promiscuity is a current trend which is very attractive to our young people. We need more innovative campaigns that will challenge the status quo and be different. After all, we are in 2009 and not the 1960s.

I am etc.,

Corve DaCosta

corve.dacosta@gmail.com

Kingston