“Pause, before you play” says Bristol Palin, making firm, compelling eye contact with the camera in the final shot of her new teen pregnancy PSA for the Candie’s Foundation. It’s a strong message from a young woman who has become one of America’s most famous teen mothers.
Bristol points out in the new public service announcement that her life as a teen mother from a famous family, which is extremely supportive of her, is very different than what it might be if she didn’t have all of that money, support and attention. The idea behind that campaign, de-glamorizing teen motherhood that has scored Bristol magazine covers, television guest roles and boundless media attention, is a good one. But the ad spends more time showing off Bristol’s combination of cozy familial support and sparkling fame than it does really driving home the realities of life for most teenage mothers. Whether its message will make it through the haze of its young target audience’s short attention span is anyone’s guess.
Interestingly, the abstinence driven campaign is very much a reversal for Bristol, who told Fox News that she thought abstinence campaigns were “not realistic at all.” It’s not too surprising, given her mother’s political stance, that Bristol’s opinion has since been publicly reversed. Bristol’s work with the Candie’s Foundation has all been very abstinence driven. Her goal is to be an example to other young women about the very real consequences of having sex at an early age – “If I can prevent even one girl from getting pregnant, I will feel a sense of accomplishment,” Bristol said in a Candie’s release.
