Reach college students with information on EC
When it comes to providing access to emergency contraception (EC), is your local college student health center passing the grade?
A report published by the New York City-based National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League of New York (NARAL/NY) reveals that almost half (42%) of college health centers in New York State do not provide students with emergency contraception, with 60% of those facilities failing to provide quality referrals to EC services.1 And of those health centers that do offer EC, 41% are closed throughout the weekend when EC may be most in demand. (Highlights of the report are available on the NARAL/NY web site, www.naralny.org.)
Why is it so important to reach college students? College-age women have the highest rate of unintended pregnancy of any group in the country. For every 1,000 women ages 18-19, about 105 experience an unintended pregnancy; among women ages 20-24, the rate is 96 out of every 1,000.2
The NARAL/NY report is allowing the organization to initiate dialogue with college administrators about EC services, says Sara Sills, EC campaign coordinator. Such communication has been beneficial because it has identified potential problems such as noncoverage on the weekend, she notes.
The dialogues also have allowed the organization to provide EC education, Sills notes. For example, physician exams are not necessary prior to EC prescription, so school health centers should not have to bring students in and have them charged for the extra service, Sills explains.
"This is teaching schools how they can make the process easier, because it [EC] is safe," states Sills.
NARAL/NY also is working with college groups to start grass-roots campaigns on EC advocacy, says Sills. It has developed a student action guide to help groups develop goals and implement campaigns.
"We may go back and look at the [report] data again, but I definitely would like to spend some time using the data that we have to change the policies, then coming back later and seeing if that had worked," notes Sills.
Posters heat interest
Women’s Capital Corp. of Washington, DC, marketers of the levonorgestrel emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) Plan B, is using a combination of college newspaper ads and male pinup posters to get the word out on EC. According to Sharon Camp, PhD, company president, the marketing campaign is targeting 30 campuses in 10 states (Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington) and Washington, DC.
The ads and posters feature photographs of male models in a tongue-in-cheek take-off on male pinup posters. One poster features "Damian" with the headline, "A Renaissance Guy, A Deep Thinker, An Ancient Soul, A Walking Sperm Factory," while another highlights "Ernesto," with the headline, "Of All The Things You’d Love To Hear Him Whisper In Your Ear, Oops — The Rubber Broke’ Isn’t One Of Them." Both bear the tagline, "Acci-dents happen . . . that’s why there’s morning-after contraception," and direct readers to the Plan B web site, www.go2planB.com, or the Emergency Contraception Hotline, (888) NOT-2-LATE, for more information about the pills.
Posters give the campaign a long "shelf life," giving the company the biggest bang for its limited marketing budget, explains Camp. The company will reach 2.24 million students through the campaign, with a media buy of just $300,000, she states. The campaign will alternate the ads and posters on a monthly schedule through the end of the school year.
Providers should note that these are not drug ads, says Camp. They provide no information about Plan B; they only direct women to two sources of comprehensive information and networks of providers, she explains.
"Under FDA [Food and Drug Administration] guidelines, we cannot advertise Plan B without providing most of the information on the package insert," Camp comments. "We thought it unlikely that young women would hang the Plan B package insert in their dorm rooms."
Pinups pique interest
Student response to the campaign has been great, says Camp. "Even the guys are hanging up the male hunks, although they apparently have covered them with graffiti," she observes. "College women are plastering dorm rooms with them."
The ads also have generated some opposition from older adults, says Camp. Several schools have declined to accept them, and the company has received comments from four people who thought the ads "objectified men," promoted promiscuity, or "stereotyped Latino men as oversexed," with the last comment referencing the "Ernesto" model, she notes.
"The campaign satirizes the popular hunk poster," says Camp. "It takes a realistic approach to women’s sexuality, but then turns the corner to promote a message of sexual responsibility."
The idea behind the ads and posters is to keep information about EC, including the hotline number and the Plan B web site, in front of women for months so they can find the information they need when they need it, Camp says.
"We thought the best way to do this would be to give students something they would want to hang on the wall," she states.
References
1. National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League of New York. Emergency Contraception 101: The Availability of Emergency Contraception (EC) at College Health Centers in New York State. Accessed at www.naralny.org.
2. Henshaw SK. Unintended pregnancy in the United States. Fam Plann Perspect 1998; 30:24-29, 46.
Resource
To order copies of the Women’s Capital Corp. posters, call (800) 330-1271, or e-mail [email protected]. There is no charge.
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