Images (and Words) Matter

There’s a pair of billboards down the road from my house that often display advertisements that provide interesting (and sometimes amusing) contrasts.  My favorite was several years ago when one was from a Catholic organization that said, “Find the Peace of Christ” and then the other was from the Girl Scouts advertising that “Girl Scout Cookies are Here!”  Makes me smile just thinking about it.  So, I don’t know how much thought goes into what two billboards say to each other when they are put there.  When the contrasts are amusing, it’s marvelous.  But then there’s today.  What do you see in these?

I saw this as I was driving past this morning.  One billboard has an African-American woman smiling about Medicaid plans here in Ohio (reminder, Medicaid is the healthcare program primarily for those under 65 with limited income and resources).  And then the other is a blonde, busty, sexy model advertising for a different medical procedure - breast “augmentation.”

I recognize that there are some who go to a clinic such as this after a mastectomy or something similar.  But that’s not what is being advertised here.  What is being advertised here is for completely elective, purely cosmetic surgery (that is definitely not covered by Medicare or any insurance).

When I saw this earlier today, I was driving to a group where there was a conversation about transgender teens and pronouns.  One of the pastors there shared that just using a teen’s preferred pronouns (even if you don’t support it) is one of the most proven ways of preventing suicide in transgender teens (who have an attempted suicide rate of higher than 40%).  Simply using preferred pronouns literally saves lives.  One study showed that transgender teens who were in environments that respected their wishes attempted suicide at half the rate of those in other environments.  That is just one example of the reality that words matter.  Words make a difference.

Same thing here - images matter.  There’s a definite (even if accidental or unconscious) message that is sent here with these two billboards.  African-American woman on the billboard about Medicare.  White blonde woman on the other about expensive, non-medically necessary, 100% elective surgery for people with $7000+ in disposable income.  What message does this combination of billboards send to people as they drive by?  What does it say to people of different races and economic statuses?  Maybe I’m wrong, but it sure doesn’t feel like it is a healthy message.  Images matter.  Images make a difference.

(Full disclosure - I am also sending this to The Plastic Surgery Group as well as to Lamar Advertising. Feel free to send as well).