LETTER: Move over, Joe Camel, there’s a new monster

Dear Editor,

Joe Camel is an enemy to our community. His advertising entices our young people to take up smoking.

Joe Camel is no threat compared to the insidious advertising of Planned Parenthood. Its ad promoting national condom week appeared in the Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day) issue of The Statesman. It was an attractive ad inviting you to participate in a 2001 Condom Odyssey with the enticement: “You decide what takes you into outer space! Get your free bag of Cosmic Condoms. …Use ’em, score ’em, bring the rating ballot back for another cool freebie!”

Joe Camel has been branded a menace. But he doesn’t say: “Use ’em, score ’em, bring the rating ballot back for another cool freebie?” That’s enticement!

So I called Planned Parenthood with a question. I asked, “Do you offer support for unwed pregnant girls?” I was told: “No. Here is the phone number to Medicaid. Call them.” I am acquainted with a young woman who is unwed and pregnant. She says her condition is the result of a defective condom (her perception, not mine). She is now a candidate for unplanned parenthood. She wants and needs to make immediate changes in her life for herself and her expected child. She wants a “planned parenthood.” But they won’t help her.

“Here is the phone number of Medicaid. Call them.”

With friends like Planned Parenthood in our community, who needs enemies like Joe Camel?

Rory J. Weaver Michelle N. Weaver