JEDDAH, 14 March 2007 — Teaching your children about sex is rarely something parents look forward to. Being quizzed about sexual matters by children because of an advertisement on television or on a poster for sexual enhancers, such as Viagra can be even more excruciating. Such advertisements can conjure intimate questions from children at an earlier age than parents would like to address them.
Now parents, teachers and psychologists are speaking out about these advertisements, and are calling on the government to regulate such ads to keep them from the curious eyes of the children, according to a report in Al-Watan newspaper.
“Children are very good at asking until they receive an answer that satisfies their curiosity,” said Abdullah Abid, a Saudi father of four who says he often receives “embarrassing questions” when they see an ad for a sexual enhancer on television.
Primary school counselor Ali Al-Ghamdi said that children could even become obsessed with finding satisfactory answers to their questions; each time they see one of these advertisements, they interrogate their parents and other family members.
Psychologist Sameera Al-Otaibi said that images get stored in the visual memory of children and they remain there with question marks until children get a logical explanation for whatever is vague or unclear about them. The problem is that when children do not receive satisfactory answers to their question they may end up attracted to the mystique surrounding the products in the advertisements.
“These ads are everywhere,” said Al-Ghamdi. “And I think this might drive children to believe that such products are necessary family supplements.”
Primary schoolteacher Nasir Abdullah said he often gets these types of questions from his students.
“Children often talk about what they see on television,” he said, suggesting that the sexual enhancement ads should be relegated to mature audiences, such as late-night television and programming that children aren’t likely to be watching.
Muhammad Abdul Raheem, whose pharmacy advertises “the little blue pill” (Viagra) and other sexual enhancers concedes that when children see the ads they can be embarrassing to the parents, but quickly points out that these ads are advantageous from a sales perspective.
Al-Otaibi said that these ads are challenging the morals and ethics that Saudi society wants to engender in the next generation. She suggests regulating the times when these advertisements can be broadcast, and also would like to see print advertisement by direct mail to target adult consumers rather than publicly posting ads.
