POLL: MOST DON’T OBJECT TO CONTRACEPTIVE ADS

Three out of five American adults believe television stations should be allowed to air contraceptive advertising, Planned Parenthood Federation of America announced Wednesday.

The national organization, citing a new Louis Harris poll conducted for it, asserted that television networks are “completely out of step with the great majority of the American people” on the matter.

Furthermore, the poll showed that when people are reminded that Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and the National Academy of Sciences have called for the increased use of condoms to help reduce the spread of AIDS, the initial majority of 60% favoring (37% opposed) contraceptive advertising increased to 74% (23% opposed)--nearly three out of four Americans.

The poll, “Attitudes About Television, Sex and Contraceptive Advertising,” was based on telephone interviews with a cross section of Americans 18 and older conducted between Jan. 28 and Feb. 1.

The findings, which challenge network arguments that such ads are morally or religiously offensive to a significant number of viewers, were announced at a press conference at the Sheraton Grande Hotel downtown. On hand were Faye Wattleton, national president of Planned Parenthood, and Humphrey Taylor, president of Louis Harris and Associates Inc., along with local Planned Parenthood officials.

Although the three major networks agreed last month to allow their owned-and-operated stations to air such advertising on a case-by-case basis and as disease-preventive, such advertising is banned during network programming.

“It is interesting to note,” the survey reported, “that there is more support for contraceptive advertising than there is for the advertising of beer and wine (53% to 45%), and for feminine hygiene sprays (58% to 39%), both of which are frequently advertised on television.”

“Surprisingly,” the survey said, “Catholics are, if anything slightly more accepting of contraceptive advertising (62% to 36%) than the total population (60% to 37%),” while “evangelical Christians are almost equally split,” 50% in favor and 47% opposed.

The survey also found that 72% of Americans say they would not be offended by contraceptive advertising on television, while 26% say they would be offended. In addition, one out of nine Americans, or 11%, have a moral or religious objection to birth control and family planning. The largest proportion of that number was among Catholics (19%), Latinos (20%) and people older than 65 (24%).

Other findings: 82% of Americans believe contraceptive ads would encourage more teen-agers to use them. A 52% majority reject the argument that contraceptive advertising would encourage more teens to have sex (42% accept it).

“This is a clear mandate,” Wattleton said, for the networks to air contraceptive advertising, “regardless of what they say to us or what their imagination tells them.”

Already, she said, more than a 100 network-owned, affiliated and independent stations across the nation have said they would air or have aired such commercials.

However, Wattleton sounded critical of the stations for insisting that the basis for the advertising be as an AIDS preventive rather than as contraceptive advertising. “The word contraceptive cannot be included” in the commercials, she said, noting that a 1986 Planned Parenthood/Harris survey of teens, 12-17, showed that a majority of young people are sexually active before 18, and only a third of them use contraceptives all the time.

To help correct that situation, Planned Parenthood, whose major effort has been concentrated on the prevention of teen pregnancy, unveiled eight 30-second public service announcements that will be submitted to networks, their affiliates and independent stations.

Some of the spots, similar to those Planned Parenthood has aired over the years, talk about saying No or in a general way advising teens to “keep yourself safe” and say, “If you’re not ready to take precautions, you’re not ready, period.”

But other spots, unlike previous ads, specifically mention birth control pills and other forms of contraception. In one, “Older Brother,” a 24-year-old in a leather jacket and polo shirt is saying, “So I say, Bobby, you got yourself a condom ? ‘For what?,’ I say. ‘For protection. Condoms are strong, they’re safe, they’re sensitive. . . .’ ”

In another, “Birth Control,” a 17-year-old girl states simply: “A million teen-agers got pregnant last year. Because half of us didn’t use simple, easy birth control (a pause) like condoms-- they cost about a dollar (another pause). Contraceptive foams and inserts, anybody can buy them (pause), and contraceptive sponges-- just follow the directions.”

Claiming that television networks use, on the average, 20,000 references to sex each year, Wattleton asked that television use its influence to also encourage teen-agers to be sexually responsible. She praised segments of “Kate & Allie,” “St. Elsewhere” and “Valerie” for promoting sexual responsibility, but said such programming was hardly enough.

Meanwhile, the Planned Parenthood/Harris survey concluded: “In the 1990s we may well look back with amazement on the reluctance of the television industry to show contraceptive advertising, just as we now look back on the old Hollywood rules which used to require that even married couples could not be shown sleeping in the same bed.”

In Washington, Rep. James H. Scheuer (D-N.Y.), commenting on the Harris findings, said; “The executives of the three television networks should lift their heads out of the sand and listen to the calls for contraceptive advertising from the American people. . .This poll is proof positive that their (network) policy of refusing to air contraceptive ads is without foundation.”