New loveLife campaign targets parents

The print campaign depicts a close up of a father handing a condom to his son, another illustrates a contraceptive pill being handed from mother to daughter. The other advertisements show a parent comforting a weeping daughter; a mother listening to her son, and a mother hugging her daughter. The copy urges parents to love their children enough to talk about sex. It also encourages them to phone loveLife parentline for free advice and a guide that will help you to talk to children.

Comments Nina Morris, MD of M&C Saatchi, the agency which opened its doors for business in South Africa 12 months ago, "This is the first time that loveLife is talking directly to parents. We want them to endorse the belief that parents need to 'open up' and that they should be talking to their children about it."

The loveLife advertising campaigns of the past have attracted a great deal of criticism and of course the topic is controversial in itself, according to newly appointed Marketing Manager, Zandile Ndalo, "We believe that this new campaign will be well received this time as we have adopted a very different approach to the communication. As with all of our campaigns we will be testing out the consumer response to our messages over the next few months - with the feedback this time coming from parents."

Angel, creative director of M&C Saatchi, remarked, "We are thrilled to be working on such an important project for this country. It is not always easy for parents to talk about sex issues with their children, but we are living in a new era, and they simply must wake up and start equipping them with the facts of life. After all, if kids don’t get to hear about the facts from their parents, they will experiment to find out for themselves."