The Real Men Campaign

Chapter 8 of our text focuses a lot on PBS (public service broadcasting), so when I came across a highly controversial recent PSA (public service announcement) I was excited to introduce it in this post.

The purpose of PBS is to broadcast content intended to inform the public.  Similarly, a PSA intends to raise awareness of a public issue, affect attitudes and potentially spur action through means of an advertisement.

Husband and wife Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, celebrities we are very familiar with, are behind the Real Men Campaign.  The Real Men Campaign aims to engage the public, specifically men, with the isue of child sex trafficking.  Kutcher explained the campaign as follows...

"We came up with the concept of the 'Real Men Don't Buy Girls' campaign, which aims to engage poeple, specifically men, in the issue. To do so, we filmed short, funny videos about things 'Real Men' do, starring high-profile influential men and women. The concept of the campaign is that real men do a lot of silly, even foolish things. But one thing they don't do is buy children for sex. That's not funny, and real men don't do it."

Celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, Sean Penn and Kutcher are some of the "real men".  Kutcher and Moore chose to use a humor appeal because they thought it would help to get people talking more about the issue at hand.

Despite their good intentions, Kutcher and Moore have received intensely negative feedback from media consumers all over the country.  It seems people are disgusted with their efforts to make such a serious issue humorous. Many critics argue that they would have liked to see some hard facts in the PSA to show the cold, hard truth about sex trafficking. Also, many argue that these celebrities don't truly represent a "real man".

Personally, I don't mind the ads.  I think Kutcher and Moore are doing amazing things for this cause.  Although I don't entirely get the humor, it did make me think and further prompted me to talk about it in my post here.  (Isn't that ultimately the point?)

I do believe an enlightened society comes from individual freedom of behavior and expression, so I'm glad to see Moore and Kutcher using their fame to promote a terrible issue that faces society today.  Whether or not the commercial did so appropriately (you decide), it did increase my knowledge about the topic.  What are your thoughts?  Do Kutcher and Moore 'dumb down' the campaign with their humorous PSAs?