Let’s Not Talk About ‘It’: Pakistan Bans Contraceptive Ads

Companies violating the directive will have face legal action.

JOSH condoms, whose ad was banned last year in Pakistan. (Photo Courtesy: Youtube screen-grab)

Pakistan has banned airing advertisements of contraceptives on television and radio after complaints that such “undesired” commercials make children inquisitive about the use of the family planning products.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) made the move after receiving regular complaints from parents about the content of such ads.

PEMRA said that the general public was not comfortable with exposing children to such products, who might get inquisitive about their use after looking at the ads.

Parents have “shown apathy” on “undesired” advertisements of such products and demanded a ban on their airing, a notification by the PEMRA said.

Pakistan banned an advertisement by a condom ad last year, calling it ‘immoral’.

Previously in 2013, a condom ad by JOSH condoms – the company whose ad got banned in 2015 – was banned by PEMRA on the same grounds of immorality. The ad featured Pakistan’s celebrity figure Mathira, and was made by DKT international, a social marketing nonprofit working in Latin America, Africa and Asia to improve access to reproductive health products and services.

As Pakistan strengthens its regulations on contraceptive ads, the population of Pakistan is on the rise, growing around 1.8 per cent a year, estimated to peak at 240 million in 2030 – it is right now the 6th most populous country in the world.

The PEMRA issued the ban despite a rise in government initiatives to encourage birth control in Pakistan.

(With inputs from PTI)