This one goes to the health promotion books.
In August, just about the time when Mideo Cruz’s mural consisting a mixed match posters of Jesus Christ, crucifixes, phallic symbols and condoms at the Main Gallery of the Cultural Center of the Philippines was receiving vicious and defamatory statements from various religious groups and influential leaders, the Municipality of Panitan in Capiz, through its Sangguniang Bayan Resolution No. 57, series of 2011, condemns the Department of Health “to the highest degree” for “deliberately allowing the public display of malicious, indecent, and immoral posters and stickers of The Smoker’s Body exhibiting the vital male sex organ.”
The said resolution, dated July 22, 2011, was presided by Vice Mayor Genroso D. Derramas and approved by Mayor Katherine Dequiña-Belo. Copies of the resolution were also sent to the different committees of the House of Representatives, aside from the DOH central and regional offices.
The Smoker’s Body, as the Resolution claimed, is an “invasion of men’s privacy that brought shame and dishonor to male smokers, hence degrading men’s social standing and status.” Moreover, it is “considerably a pornographic material that injects a strong prejudice and inculcates malice, indecency and immorality into the vulnerable mind of the child and youth who view it all the time, each day on their way to school and back home.”
The Smoker’s Body, as the Resolution claimed, is an “invasion of men’s privacy that brought shame and dishonor to male smokers, hence degrading men’s social standing and status.” Moreover, it is “considerably a pornographic material that injects a strong prejudice and inculcates malice, indecency and immorality into the vulnerable mind of the child and youth who view it all the time, each day on their way to school and back home.”
The Smoker’s Body, developed by the World Health Organization, is originally a pin-up graphic poster showing some of smoking’s less publicized side effects from head to toe, including deformed sperm, reduced blood flow to the penis which can cause impotence, and infertility. It has been translated in several languages and can be seen around medical establishments and other educational institutions around the globe. The essential purpose of this poster is to inform the minds of people, especially the youth, and to discourage them from smoking. This anti-smoking poster has been proven very effective.
The Philippines adopted the Smoker’s Body and the DOH has it in posters and leaflets as well as in instructional presentations. Many organizations with tobacco control programs also followed suit.
Through the years, the Smoker’s Body has been the most requested health promotion material, although the DOH admits that it occasionally receives a few feedback from individuals airing their concerns on the exposure of the penis. Four years ago, the DOH placed a white brief on the genitals of the Smoker’s Body tarpaulins that were displayed in light railway train stations. Those who saw it, especially students, snickered at the modest change. And now, back on its original form, the Smoker’s Body received flak, but now from a higher level.
Oh well, no one cannot please everybody all the time. Not everyone has the same level of education, values and morality. What is blasphemous to one, maybe an art to the other. And what is pornographic to some, maybe life-saving information to many.
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"Malaswa" in the photo covering the genitals of the Smoker's Body means "vulgar."
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