Scared Sexless: Ad Shows Teen Giving Birth on Playground

by 35

A new advertisement, produced by the UK's National Health Service, realistically depicts a screaming schoolgirl giving birth on a playground amid a chaotic crowd of students. Before you watch, beware: the content is graphic.

Government officials behind the spot explain that pamphlets and posters have been ineffective in getting the message out about teen pregnancy prevention. At the end of the spot, a website for teens flashes across the screen. The site — called Hey Babe — actually has loads of useful information about sex, including advice on the HPV vaccination, contraception, questions of sexual orientation, and even abortions. If the shocking commercial can help tune kids into sex education, do you think the graphic imagery is worth it?

NewsLove And SexPregnancyPSATeenagersTeensUnited KingdomTeen Pregnancy

35 Comments

Looked pretty real to me! When i was in school if anything happend there was always a bunch of kids with there phones out recording. The teachers probably did come over when they realised what was going on. But to be honest i don't think it will put anyone off having children, Other than the screaming she seems as though she is coping with it ok, and as someone else said, It looks like she is having a sucesfull birth. I'm sure the odd's of giving birth in school are very low unless the baby was premature. 18 from england.
it actually is real cos my dad had to watch it for his social work thing.
dikke kus dikke kus
Analeigh. You are 14? What would you tell teenagers like yourself about having the baby? I feel really deeply for you.
wel im 14 n i had tu hav my bby at mi 8th grade prom n iht was bad.buh mi bby is 1 now n i love her tu death i named her Destini Ana.n she is soo pretty
sparklestar sparklestar
This is SO silly! It isn't going to deter anybody! In the UK we are shown birth videos as part of our science classes and are made fully aware of what happens during. Showing some girl having a successful birth (the head was out) in the middle of a field is not going to deter anybody. Besides, that situation would never happen. Teachers are on duty all the time and since they are all under 18 they would have been dispersed immediately. The girl wouldn't have even been in school at full term. This is a silly scare tactic video and I'm not bothered by it. I want to have a baby and this doesn't put me off at all. Granted I am 25 years old but this wouldn't have scared me when I was younger either. I don't know anybody who would be scared by this.
sparklestar sparklestar
This is SO silly! It isn't going to deter anybody! In the UK we are shown birth videos as part of our science classes and are made fully aware of what happens during. Showing some girl having a successful birth (the head was out) in the middle of a field is not going to deter anybody.Besides, that situation would never happen. Teachers are on duty all the time and since they are all under 18 they would have been dispersed immediately. The girl wouldn't have even been in school at full term.This is a silly scare tactic video and I'm not bothered by it. I want to have a baby and this doesn't put me off at all. Granted I am 25 years old but this wouldn't have scared me when I was younger either. I don't know anybody who would be scared by this.
Daisy Doe Daisy Doe
When I was in high school (I'm from the Netherlands ) they showed us a video of a woman giving birth. Every single detail visible. That stopped me from even wanting sex till I was 17. We also got really good education on how to have save sex at school and how to prevent pregnancy. They also told us that sex is very special and you don't just do it with random guy or girl you have a crush on. I don't know what they teach in the UK. But if they would teach the same thing at every high school there would be a lot less teenage pregnancy and a lot less 13 year olds sleeping around (which is just disgusting imo.)
kittyktpink kittyktpink
I have only recently left high school and many of the students in my year are immature to record things like this if it happened.. i think this is a good idea.. i have a girl in my year who is only 16 and due in 5 weeks.. teenage pregnancies are riduculously common and i think the video would make alot of students think about the consequences.
Maybe the issue of teen pregnancies in Britain is due to ignorance and not seeing the seriousness, but not in America. Here, the issue is about making contraceptives more accessible to teens and creating better dialogues between teen and parent.
AndiO1225 AndiO1225
It seems a lot of girls get pregnant so they can get a flat of their own and move out of their parent's house. Maybe the government should make it less appealing for these girls to have babies so young.
Muirnea Muirnea
I think scare tactics might be a good idea.. but that video just looked super fake. Like others have said, where were any adults, why was some kid at school randomly filming, etc. etc.?
tuscanstellina tuscanstellina
Ugh. Whether you believe it was realistic or lame, can you imagine such a thing actually happening to you? Knowing some schoolmate was videotaping it and spreading it around? yikes.
Aimeelo Aimeelo
I thought that was awesome! Yes, it was cheesy and a little Cloverfield-esque but come on, that was great. HA!
danni2009 danni2009
Allytta- I saw that show I think. There was also another one recently called 'The Hospital', showed the effects unruly youths are having on the NHS, one of the episodes showed the effect of teenage pregnancy. The ignorance of some of the girls on there was shocking. One girl said something like 'I had been with him a while and therefore thought I couldn't get pregnant'. And another couple who started trying for a baby after A MONTH. I must say I don't remember having much sex ed in school (watched a video and had one class I think), whatever I learnt was from books and magazines. It's somewhat un-British to talk about sex openly without being incredibly embarassed, I wish we had a more European approach here, teenage pregnancy rates are much lower on the continent.
danni2009 danni2009
Allytta- I saw that show I think. There was also another one recently called 'The Hospital', showed the effects unruly youths are having on the NHS, one of the episodes showed the effect of teenage pregnancy. The ignorance of some of the girls on there was shocking. One girl said something like 'I had been with him a while and therefore thought I couldn't get pregnant'. And another couple who started trying for a baby after A MONTH.I must say I don't remember having much sex ed in school (watched a video and had one class I think), whatever I learnt was from books and magazines. It's somewhat un-British to talk about sex openly without being incredibly embarassed, I wish we had a more European approach here, teenage pregnancy rates are much lower on the continent.
Gdeeaz Gdeeaz
it made me laugh. in middle school we watched a video of an entire birth and that scared me. just the idea of having a baby at 19 (my age now) freaks me out and that's what has made me think twice about having sex.
Allytta Allytta
and also ladies, you're confusing - this is aimed at British crowd, we do crazy stuff here all the time, while americans don't get it. that's why UK ads get a lot of awards - it's on the edge.
Allytta Allytta
In UK teenage pregnancy is a big issue. I watched a TV show about a girl from not a very big town in England and she was having sex from 13 years old and they told her to go get checked by sex clinic. when she came in the nurse explained everything to her and the girl was like "oh, i had no idea about stds" she was clean in the end, but still - they have sex ed and there was actually a scandal that they want to start it for 7 year olds. Maybe school should make exams on STD's and all sex ed so that kids actually listen? I went to school in Lithuania and sex ed was the most anticipated subject, we giggled A LOT, but listened very carefully. It was another kind of porn for us somehow. And we def didn't have sex from early age, so being told about other sex when you're 11 is quite intersting.
danni2009 danni2009
FrenchKiss-yep it is an issue in some areas (mainly more deprived areas). I've heard of at least one state school where they had to have a separate room for the pregnant mothers taking their GCSEs (school leavers exams) in case their waters broke during the exam!!! (GCSEs are taken age 15/16). I thought this ad was quite shocking but I'm not sure it will be as effective as campaigns against dangerous driving. I also don't think showing a birth is necessarily the way to get the important message across-what about afterwards when they have a screaming baby to look after on their state benefits (paid for by other people)? (another big issue here...)...surely that's the worst effect of having a child young, not giving birth to it?
danni2009 danni2009
FrenchKiss-yep it is an issue in some areas (mainly more deprived areas). I've heard of at least one state school where they had to have a separate room for the pregnant mothers taking their GCSEs (school leavers exams) in case their waters broke during the exam!!! (GCSEs are taken age 15/16).I thought this ad was quite shocking but I'm not sure it will be as effective as campaigns against dangerous driving. I also don't think showing a birth is necessarily the way to get the important message across-what about afterwards when they have a screaming baby to look after on their state benefits (paid for by other people)? (another big issue here...)...surely that's the worst effect of having a child young, not giving birth to it?
Pistil Pistil
Hmm... didn't shock me. I watched an entire birth in high school biology. That made someone of us think twice :), but really, it's going to be the same painful process whether your 16 or 36. I think kids will still dismiss this as something that happens to someone else. I agree, margo, I think actual reality and the aftermath would be more effective.
margokhal margokhal
Um...WHAT. I'm just going to put it out there: I laughed my butt off. Really. While if something like that really happened, I'd be more disturbed that there was NO ADULT around [I mean surely somebody knew she was pregnant BEFORE that happened?!] and that somebody FILMED it - it's not real or even realistic. How many times has ANYONE seen a girl give birth at school in a field?? I'm fairly sure it won't stop or help to reduce teen pregnancy. They need to choose a different scare tactic - not bloody things, but just showcase how teen's lives change when they have children at such a young age.
margokhal margokhal
Um...WHAT.I'm just going to put it out there: I laughed my butt off. Really. While if something like that really happened, I'd be more disturbed that there was NO ADULT around [I mean surely somebody knew she was pregnant BEFORE that happened?!] and that somebody FILMED it - it's not real or even realistic. How many times has ANYONE seen a girl give birth at school in a field?? I'm fairly sure it won't stop or help to reduce teen pregnancy. They need to choose a different scare tactic - not bloody things, but just showcase how teen's lives change when they have children at such a young age.
Chouette4u Chouette4u
I don't really get it. Are they trying to say that if you get pregnant as a teen, you're going to have to give birth on the playground surrounded by a bunch of people?
French Kiss French Kiss
It must be a really big issue in Britin to take such measures... That was quite terrible =s
Front Page: Does Having Daughters Make You More Liberal?
Front Page: Does Having Daughters Make You More Liberal?
The Hangover Gets Its Laughs From Dubious Places
The Hangover Gets Its Laughs From Dubious Places