Billboard blight

A rancid advertising campaign shows the difference between sex and love.

“Want Longer Lasting Sex?”; “Want Longer Lasting… Censored”; “Bonk Longer”. Like the plagues that were cast upon the Egyptians, the Advanced Medical Institute (AMI) with its “Nasal Delivery Technology” has descended upon Australian billboards, newspapers, TV and radio, peddling an alleged cure for impotence. Founded in Australia 16 years ago by Ukrainian-born Jack Vaisman, AMI has recently expanded its operations into New Zealand, Japan, the UK and now the USA.

The AMI campaign, however, is not a medical campaign. Rather it is an attempt to reshape our understanding of the human person and the sexual act and to make a great deal of money in the process. From a commercial point of view it has been a phenomenal success.

Sex sells everything from cars to toothpaste. What is happening with companies such as AMI, however, is much more duplicitous. The reason that most of its radio ads and billboards pass through the Advertising Standards Bureau is because they do not use explicit sex or nudity to sell a product. Rather, they are selling a new vision of sex under the guise of medical treatment. AMI cleverly works at a philosophical level and, unfortunately, the code of ethics does not. Increasingly, we live within a legal and political system operating at a rule-based level which is devoid of an ethical framework. But without ethics based on core principles, rules mean very little.

If AMI were selling ways for couples to love each other better, that would be great. But of course it can not. This campaign does however tell us something about ourselves that sometimes we forget. Every single one of us, male and female, young and old, Christian, Muslim or atheist, is searching for connection and love. Deep within every heart lies a spark that pushes the human person to pursue what is true, good and beautiful, even if they are totally wrong on where to find it. Even though the modern world has declared sex to be no more than a recreational activity, it does not really ring true to our experience. Our maleness, our femaleness, and our sexuality have a meaning we cannot ignore.

The biggest problem with these ads is not their crudeness; it is their utilitarian view of the human person and human sexuality. When we live with a utilitarian mindset, the human person becomes another object for our use or abuse. We see the classical examples of this throughout history in slavery, Nazism and abortion, but each one of us must be on constant alert for it in our own lives, especially in regards to sexuality. Karol Wojtyła noted in his book Love and Responsibility that there are more opportunities within the sexual relationship than in most other situations of treating a person as an object of use  - sometimes without even realising it.

Love and sex in our culture are often reduced to no more than lust; in fact a slogan like “lust longer” would more accurately express AMI's goal. But love is a virtue; it is more than an emotion and very much more than an excitement of the senses. Love can only be what it is meant to be when it is directed to another person in their entirety. Love cannot be called love when it directs itself merely to a body.

The book of Genesis recalls how Adam and Eve realised that they were naked and covered themselves after the fall. There is a deep significance in this. With sin came a tendency to see the body before seeing the person. The man and woman covered themselves to protect their bodies from being used in a manner that was not respectful to them as human persons. This experience of the man and woman is at the basis of the Christian understanding of sexuality, morality and social justice. It is a holistic understanding that sees the beauty and value of the entire person and is not limited by any particular strength or defect of their body. When this is understood Christianity is seen as not a killjoy philosophy but as a pointer towards genuine joy. It is a joy that will not be found in drugs that promote longer lasting sex, but in a genuine commitment to selfless love.

By: Bernard Toutounji is the Education Officer of the Life, Marriage and Family Centre in the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. www.lifemarriagefamily.org.au.