The title of this post is a game word: in Spanish "mata" (plant) and "mata" (Kill) is spelled and pronounced the same way. The theme of this radio commercial that is broad casted in the Colombian radio networks tries to persuade the farmers of the south states of the country of cultivating Coca and Amapola plants by reaching its sensitiveness and moral sense. This radio commercial is sponsored by one federal organization Direccion Nacional de Estupefacientes (National Center for Illegal Drugs) that belongs to the National Ministry of Justice. So far, so good, but (always the sinister "BUT") the issue is the script of this commercial is narrated for the really sweet, innocent and tender voice of a little girl. I am sure most of you may not speak Spanish but I am pretty sure when you get into the link that I attach below, you will agree with me about the qualification of the voice I commented previously.
Here is the link:
http://www.dne.gov.co/?idcategoria=4034&download=Y
So, the issue in my country is about if it is ethical and moral(we suppose it is legal because the sponsor of the radio commercial is a federal organization) to use the sweet tone of voice of a little girl to prevent the increase of illegal crops like Amapola and Coca. There have been a lot of controversy in my country and many posts in blogs and articles in newspapers and magazines against this campaign. I attach two of them:
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://eu-es.facebook.com/topic.php%3Fuid%3D30406471542%26topic%3D11979&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpropaganda%2Bradial%2Bla%2Bmata%2Bque%2Bmata%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhgh2eFOpR_OZ1WpAV8vFUQ2uovrvw
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://comunidades.semana.com/wf_InfoNoticia.aspx%3FIdNoticia%3D3135&ei=PLkCTNruMIaKlwfNv4CiCA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCUQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpropaganda%2Bradial%2Bla%2Bmata%2Bque%2Bmata%26hl%3Den
My opinion: I agree it is not ethical, but I am pretty sure these kinds of campaigns are necessary and even mandatory. In a country as Colombia, where at least two generations of my country men and women's moral values have been damaged by this "damn" business, we need to give strength to these kinds of messages so they can reach inside the people's subconscious and maybe, with a little luck, to wake the awareness of all of us.
It is a controversial issue so it is a personal judge. Hear the commercial and read the articles of people against this campaign. Then, make up your own mind.
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Ricardo, I don’t agree with you that a child should be used in political campaigns or from some other problems of national interest such as drug, abortions and others. Maybe in Colombia cloud be a normal issue, but now with the internet this information reaches millions of people who agree with my point of view, a violation of public issue.
ReplyDeleteThe commercial indeed is very controversial, but I think it touch a very sensitive point. Using a little girl voice over a very serious issue like dealing with drugs doesn't match at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the commercial have raised a lot of attention (like us discussing it) and pretty sure that was the objective, but also very unethical using children and manipulating them in a drug campaing