From Birth Control to Fertility Boosting: Family Planning TV Ads in Hong Kong 1972-2006

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Communication History Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This study examines the history of family planning promotions on television in Hong Kong, starting from the first TV ad in 1972 to the one in 2006. Following the changes in the society, themes of the TV ads moved from birth control in the 1970s, to reproductive health promotion and sex education in the 1980s and 1990s, and finally came to fertility boosting in the 2000s because of the low birth rate in Hong Kong. How the family planning TV ads responded to social change, and made use of different techniques such as metaphors when talking about sex-related topics to accommodate the Chinese culture, is discussed.

Author

• Wan Chi Leung, University of South Carolina