Liberate yourself from fears of unwanted pregnancy

Census, population explosion, theories, suggestions and more endless debate to no avail¦ It's once again another round of exercise the country is undertaking to ascertain how much more damage we have done to our country's depleting resources through our cavalier attitude towards a vital issue: Family planning.

Sharing the responsibilities of the administration, the corporate sector has also joined hands in public service campaign to put across the message to the masses ” we are better off as a big home with less members, than vice versa. Population Services International's (PSI) has come out with an innovative ad campaign ” Freedom 5 ” an attempt to set women free from fear of unwanted pregnancy.

The ad campaign, conceptualised and executed by Lowe Lintas, aims to increase use of an intra-uterine 5-year contraceptive solution among married couples who wouldn't want to add any more burden to their family size. Freedom 5 is an alternative proven modern solution to preventing unwanted pregnancy, unlike the often unreliable faulty traditional and home-based word-of-mouth methods, or the quack solutions handed from generation to generation.

The humour-laced campaign revolves around a fictional character ” Ratna Chachi ” who is a meddlesome middle-aged lady trying to force her free sexual tips to a young couple with two kids in a bid to try and "improve' their family life. From jeera to ajwain, the officious aunt even pops up with new lessons even on the ovulation calendar! The campaign's final statement "har chachi, mami, mausi doctor nahi hote" sums up PSI's attempt to help women move away from "Ratna Chachis" and adopt doctor's trusted contraceptive advices. And as the exasperated husband points out: If Ratna was the last word on contraceptives, she herself wouldn't have had to raise her own brood of five kids!