United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Serve Marketing launch provocative “Sex Myth” ads

Campaign debunks common myths, promotes
dialogue between parents and teens

United Way of Greater
Milwaukee, in collaboration
with Serve Marketing,
launched a provocative new
campaign on Tuesday, October
8, 2013, that will deliver a
strong message to parents of
teen and pre-teen children –
if you’re not talking to teens
about sex, someone else is.
The campaign, titled
“Who’s Teaching Your Child
about Sex?” is designed to
start that conversation between
parents and youth
about sex and the many
myths surrounding teen
pregnancy. The campaign
features kids proliferating
many sex myths, and depicts
them spreading throughout a
school without any attempt
to debunk or call into question
the validity of the myths.
“The campaign is a wakeup
call to parents, urging
them to take control of the
conversation,” explains Nicole
Angresano, Vice President
of Community Impact
for United Way of Greater
Milwaukee. “Though it may
seem hard to believe, and
even silly, these myths are
out there and young people
believe many of them. We
want to make sure our youth
are getting accurate information
and we know parents
are the best source for
that. Parents should be their
children’s first and primary
health educators, and we
want to give them tools that
will help them answer tough
questions.”
The integrated campaign
kicked off with a strong,
interactive social media and
online component that includes
videos and an online
quiz. Teens and parents will
be directed to a website created
by Serve Marketing for
the campaign, www.GetThe-
SexFacts.com where they can
take the Sex Myth quiz, view
the videos, share them with
their own friends through social
media and get access to
more information. There is
also an interactive YouTube
site where teens and parents
can take the quiz; http://
youtu.be/vNAQAAv47PA.
“The average teen spends
more than five hours a day
online and the kind of misinformation
they’re getting
about sex is frightening,”
notes Serve Creative Director
Gary Mueller. “We wanted to
use social media to combat
these myths because that’s
where the conversations are
happening. And at the same
time we want to open the
eyes of parents to what their
kids are learning online.”
Mueller and Angresano
are hoping teens and parents
alike will share the content
with their networks to create
greater awareness of the
importance of these types of
conversations.
Other elements of the
campaign, including bus
shelter ads and television
spots will roll out throughout
October in support of Let’s
Talk Month.
The multi-pronged campaign
is the latest tactic in the
United Way-led Teen Pregnancy
Prevention Initiative.
Milwaukee’s teen birth rate
is currently at a historically
low level. City of Milwaukee
health officials say the current
trend indicates that Milwaukee
should be on track
to reduce the teen birth rate
by 46 percent by 2015, a goal
which was set by United Way
of Greater Milwaukee, the
Center for Urban Population
Health and the Milwaukee
Health Department in 2008.