Yeah, and I am tired of CANDIES telling teens to be abstinent. It's not all that's cracked up to be!

I agree with your point, it is pretty elitist. However I also understand the point she's making, she was a high profile pregnant teen, after she had the baby there were a ton of magazines with her smiling down at her baby on the cover. Same thing on talk shows. She's been called out on sending the wrong message because, well, having a baby as a teen doesn't seem all that bad based on looking at her. I think she's trying to contradict that and say "Hey, guys, I'm really lucky, I have money and a family that is helping me. It's rare, and you probably won't be so lucky." However it falls short with that living room at the end, a lot of americans live that way and are perfectly happy. I don't like her, but I appreciate her making an attempt to fix this misconception that having a baby young will make things better, or will be fun or what have you.

I agree, it does come off a little elitist although did anyone notice that when they played clips during the "opportunities" part there was one picture of her graduating and all the rest were here getting into makeup at TV and Magazine cover shoots? Someone thought professional stylists constitute an opportunity; that is just as disturbing.

(This is a little tongue in cheek so don't get all literal about it)

All I can think is "How's that Abstinency-only Educationy Thing working out for ya?"

The Palins have used up way more then their alloted 15 minutes..... enough already!

^What she said.

It should have said "what if my mother had given me birth control?"

She says, "I think people need to start talking about the consequences of teen pregnancy." Hello?! People do. At least she sounds smarter than her mom.

Also, what's with her hair in the last shot? Poor women don't know how to use a brush?

Yeeeah....
or "Hey guys, I totally get that consequence is as surreal to most teenagers as the outside world to a goldfish and I actually have no idea what I'm talking about right now because my family is famous and I do have their support and "opportunities" plus somebody wrote me this script and I'm basically just reciting my lines blah blah blah...don't drink and drive, don't do drugs, do unto others, blah blah blah..."
http://www.theladyslounge.com

I agree it could be seen as a bit elitist. Maybe they should have shown her in trailer with bad carpet or a crappy studio apartment with a bad couch instead of the clean but rather sparse room. Maybe that would have hit home since it is more realistic. I don't know many young mothers --teen or early 20's-- with a nice couch.

Visit either the Candie's Foundation or the "National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy" site and you'll see a lot about "the consequences" of babies-having-babies. You'll also see much tip-toeing around contraception. Why is that? Why isn't Planned Parenthood involved, hmmm? Oh, that right -- it's a liberal commie organization. At least this is better than: "Just don't do it kids (please!)."

written by cassandraawesome, April 08, 2010
It should have said "what if my mother had given me birth control?"

I completely agree!

that is such a pretentious ad.

The ad may be kinda elitist, mostly I think the images with the living room are relly superficial. Yeah, a lot of teen mothers don't have a lot of cool stuff, a crappy apt, a crappy ass couch that was a hand me down from a neighbor, etc, but is not having the money to buy nice stuff really the downside to teen pregnancy for most women? What about the deeper issues? Still growing up and learning about who you are while taking care of a whole new person? Having to do pretty much everything backwards (in this society), having to be shocked into the world of adulthood? It's harder than just being poor and not having support although that is a big part of it for most. I don't imagine it's even that easy for Bristol Palin despite all the help she gets.
I dunno, ads like this kind of reinforce more of the same consumerist ideas that without cool stuff your nothing. I am living proof that you can be a good mom who had a kid young and be poor and go to school and hopefully work your way out of poverty and still be relatively happy.

Her energy would be much better spent fighting for the right for women to have kids... Having children is not economically feasible for so many women today because of the lack of parental leave, child care support, and the expense of child care, not to mention the average lower wages that Americans have been putting up with since the 70's (real wages have gone down in this country!). I have a four year degree from a top university and a masters and like my equally educated friends am thrilled to have a job that just pays my basic bills. Even though I want to have kids there's no way I can afford it on $24,000 in California...

"What if my mom had given me birth control?" is pretty unfair. Her son was the result, which almost makes that a personal insult. I think she should be commended. She is in a position to make a strong point. As a woman who went through a teen pregnancy, I can say that luckily I had a very supportive family as well. Because of them, I was able to finish school and have a job that pays more than poverty-level wages. I shudder to think how horrible it would have been for my son and I to live without that support system. She's make a VERY vaild point. A teen pregnancy is more than having a baby and possibly having to drop out of school. The result IS that baby who continues to grow into a child. I don't know any parent that doesn't want to be able to give her child everything she can, and being financially stable IS a part of that. The point of this commercial is to show a real consequence- one that goes past the cute baby bumps and the baby showers. Saintmelissa, you are definitely onto something pretty huge-

Plenty of adults with nice room decor are horrible parents and plenty of women who are older and married get divorced and end up single mothers with little or no support. The issue here is that pushy abstinence only views left this young lady vulnerable and **without** the support she needed before her pregnancy. And to see her doing this kind of public penance shows us she still isn’t receiving the kind of support she truly needs, no matter what her suit or home furnishings may imply.
This isn’t about elitism. It’s about a confused young mother trying to reconcile the political and religious rhetoric of her people with what she knows to be true from her experiences. It’s about a young woman trying to align the reality of her healthy happy son with the idea that she has brought a “tragedy” down on herself and her family.
The only “tragedy” here is that a little family planning in the form of a condom could have left her free to one day be completely unencumbered by the baby’s ridiculous father.
A great prom date isn’t always the best father, insist on birth control! There’s your PSA!!!

The part that I really don't like about this commercial is that the apartment at the end looks a lot like my apartment and her hair at the end looks a lot like my hair. Except instead of a baby I have a dog. I guess my life isn't as pretty as as I thought...

I'm only getting the message that teens with supportive parents are lucky, because if they have a "little accident" because their parents didn't give them smart choices for birth control, their parents will support them in their choice to be a child with a child. Plenty of teens have parents that support them, even if they don't have the financial means or the parenting skills to raise a child with a child. And thanks to teen mother mini-celebs like Bristol, who have become cover models, posing with their babies, teens have an example of how successful they can be as child parents of a child and look good doing it. Abstinence education is failing our young people.

Why not just use a rubber?

WOW! YOU ARE SO FUCKING LUCKY!!! shit!! i had sex once and i was so horny i couldnt even wait to put the rubber on my dooshy boyftiend, and i got pregnant!!now im living in a fucking studio looking like a crack head with a ponytail! fuck, i wish your mom was president, bristol. it would be so comforting to have her tit and cash in my mouth to help me feel supported. then i would have a chanel jacket AND a baby!

Elitist? Hmmm just dumb. It still isn't pretty. I had no clue this hillbilly was still in the limelight. Really she should just be quiet. She seems quite ridiculous here.

Bristol Palin is always saying that sex outside of marriage is wrong. First it was wrong, then teenage girls aren't ready for the responsiblity, and finally this take on the finances of it. She's a conflicted young woman which is natural; she's young and in a hard situation. But not everything that comes out of her mouth can be taken as gold because she's a teen mother. Although she's had sex and a baby, you can never get her to say anything about contraception, abortion, or the things about sex that she wishes she had known. Maybe she hasn't had enough time to reflect on these issues yet, but she needs to. Until someone starts having an honest conversation with young people about sex (more than "Just Say No") we will continue to see more Bristol Palins. Young people who want to be virtuous in spite of their humanity, but end up just dictating the same tired morals they wish they had hollowed. Morality without intelligence is impossible and results in vapid, but well meaning PSAs like this one. And yes, this is a slap in the face to poor women who are portrayed as not as well equipped to be parents.

I also agree with Laura. This ad just misses the point. Poverty is not the worst part of teenage pregnancy,it's just a symptom of a social problem that would have manifested itself anyway later in your life. (Or should poor people never have children?)

I think Bristol is projecting herself onto every teenage mom. She doesn't look very happy being a mom even if she does have a stylist.

so is she calling her son a mistake? I certainly hope he never sees this ad. it's easy for me to judge Bristol Palin, because I never had a baby as a teen. do I see the elitism? yes. more importantly do i see her hypocrisy? absolutely. the ONLY thing Bristol should have abstained from was making this ad. Go back to wasilla, and raise your baby, and take his grandmother with you, please.

"something about it just smacks of elitism"? I'll say! The message is crystal clear: rich people can do as they please because they can afford the consequences.

I actually thought it made good points and the empty room at the end shows how hard it is to be a Mom without all that financial and emotional support.

The three most terrifying words in the English language:

"The condom broke"

I don't see why teens are so "unable" to go without sex. People can resist urges and desires if they think it's IMPORTANT enough. People who are trained to discipline themselves ALWAYS end up better off than those who tend to give in to desires. I know when I started preparing to fail, I began failing.

Elitist? Yes. But a poor woman couldn't make this ad, Bristol could. The very elitism (read: Money and influence) that makes it possible for her to make this ad (And try to counter-act the myth that babies "make everything better") is the elitism you're frowning upon.

Am I the only one who thinks she looks better in jeans and a T-shirt without all the makeup and shit? I'd also take the plain IKEA-like apartment at the end over the over-decorated one at the beginning any day.
But more importantly, the soulless, vacuous look in her eyes and total lack of visible personality is not selling any message to anybody. Thanks robot but I'll stick to the pill.

Bristol Palin and all the rest of the Palins, especially Bristol's mother, are all a bunch of effin' HYPOCRITES.

At least someone is willing to highlight the issues - governments on both sides of the Atlantic are far too busy concentrating on STD-style 'safe sex' to acknowledge the many other hidden dangers of teenage sex, from infertility to psyhological problems.

Of course poor people don't have the right to breed. Plus, abortion is a sin, and if your mom is a halfwit supermom political superstar you can do whatever the hell you want.

Ugh. When will the Palins go away?

This advertisement reminds me of an awesome sticker that an ex-boss of mine so callously put on our time clock at work: "If you can't feed 'em, don't breed 'em". Granted, there are people who pop out kids because their welfare money is running out, but there are a bigger majority of people who just want to have kids. My parents were working minimum wage jobs when they had me, and I turned out alright!

On to abstinance... The idea of abstinance is good and all, but seriously, teenagers are not going to listen to you when their hormones are on turbo. I am not saying that every single teenager is going to have sex, but it seems that the odds are that they will before they move out of their parent's house. What we need is education, and this is what my parents did for me. If sex is going to be the end result of an encounter, there ALWAYS needs to be protection. NEVER let a guy say, "Well, it just doesn't FEEL as good with a condom, baby." He's just blowing steam out of his ass. Even if there is another form of contraceptive involved (i.e. birth control pills, mirena, etc.) still use a condom, or else you may just end up with a mass of blisters on your genitalia...or you may end with HIV. You get to choose.