Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Spain

With my mother being a survivor of breast cancer, I am particularly attentive to the media during October, breast cancer awareness month. Normally during this time at home, I would be doing fundraising walks with my mother, or going to charity functions with her to support a fight for the cure. I was very interesed to see how the issue of breast cancer affects the Spanish, and the ways they go about publicizing for a cure and support.

As I was watching the news (el sexto) with my señora the other night, I came across a few spots for the cause. There was one commerical of a group of women speaking about the disease, all having their heads wrapped in a light pink scarf, representing the breast cancer awareness ribbon color. At the end of the commercial, they all took their scarves off to reveal what little hair they had left from the chemotherapy, but wearing it proudly. It made me happy to see that this cause is advocated for pretty universally. We have almost identical commericials and spots in the U.S. It was also interesting to see that even here, the issue still holds much attention in the media.


Shortly after this commerical ended, the news came back with a reporter present in a doctor's office. He began to describe current health care initiatives and efforts toward scanning women for breast cancer, nearest clinics, new fundraisers etc. Soon after speaking, the camera started to pan to the left, leaving the reporter in the right foreground. In the background was clearly depicted a woman in the middle of her doctor's appointment, getting a mammogram, full frontal to the camera. Also clearly depicted, were her naked breasts.

By now, it's no surprise that this is a surprise! I have become somewhat more adapted with the liberalness of nudity in the media in Spain, however this just did not sit well with me. I told my mother about it and she seemed appauled that something like that would be exploited, and found it inappropriate to be so freely showing nudity, during a very serious procedure. I myself wasn't aware any woman would want to be filmed while this was going on anyway! In the U.S., while you may see a woman on a broadcast sitting in a doctor's office prepping, they would never show the procedure itself with the woman being naked. To me, this would be similar to showing a man being examined "down there," which I have also yet to see in Spain on live television. It puzzles me a little why this is acceptable, but I guess I'm still suffering a little culture shock!

Ciutadan's Campaign--nude?!

Well this campaign promotion for Albert Rivera's election came as quite a surprise to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anpQadSAuHU&feature=player_embedded

Cataluna is preparing for their upcoming elections and this party in particular, the Ciutadans, represents a group of people who believe in revolution and rebellion against the Nationalism government. The group was formed in Catalonia in July 2006 in response to a stand made by Catalan intellectuals critical of the nationalist government, and eager for a new political party to "address the real problems faced by the general public." Albert Rivera, the current candidate for this party running for president of Catalonia, is leading a group of people of different ages and genders down the street behind him in this promo, ending with a sign saying "Rebel." The spot was supposed to reflect a "civic revolution" against the current status quo in Catalonia. Some of the issues they are against include things like laws allowing only the speaking of Catalan.

While I understand their desire for revolution and change, this advertisement definitely caught me off guard. It definitely isn't something you'd see in the states without an immense amount of controversy (in the very least.) Most likely it would never be allowed, or the candidate would face some consequences. Not to mention, this particular candidate has apparently posed nude before in support of his cause, and now just recently added a group of people to his campaign to further enforce his presence. I admire the liberalism in the media in Spain, but I thought the message was a little extreme. To me it said, "if you don't let us make change, we're just going to walk around naked in protest."

However, being a public relations major myself, I am a big believer that no publicity is bad pubilicity. Rivera definitely succeeded in making his mark and getting everyone's attention in standing up for his party, and for that I give him credit, and wish him the best of luck!

"No one can be proud of being a homosexual dysfunctional"

Today I came across an article in Publico, quoting a New York Republican politician Carl P. Paladino displaying his ideology of homosexuality in Brooklyn.

The article talks about Paladino implying that children should not be brainwashed into thinking living a homosexual lifestyle will bring them as much success as one in a heterosexual family and marriage. He then goes on to say that he is not homophobic, nor does he wish anything bad upon those that are. According to an article in the New York Times, New Yorkers are ¨considering moving out of the state if he becomes governor."

It was interesting to me to see something like this turn up in a Spanish publication. To be honest I was very surprised at how much Spain talks about American politics, culture, music, etc when I came here, because we hardly ever features stories about Spanish politics and such in our publications. Although it was an upsetting article to hear from a U.S. politician, it sort of reinforced it seeing it in a foreign newspaper. I feel as though that one little article amongst an array of democratic-liberal article sort of makes the U.S. seem very prejudice and close-minded, just because of this one, ultra-conservative politician. It was a very troubling article in general, and not the best example of the U.S.

The Recent Terrorism Warning

One of the most present stories in the media today, in both the USA and all of Europe, are about the resent terrorist threats from Al Qaeda this past week. There has been a warning to take precautions in all airports, subway stations, buses, etc while traveling throughout Europe, especially the UK, France and Germany.

This of course has all of our parents in a panic. I myself will be traveling to Amsterdam this weekend and am a little nervous. However, since I did my presentation, I have been using Publico.es as my news source in Spain (the translated version of course.) This morning I came across an article pertaining to the terrorist warning, saying that the EU was a little disappointed that the information was leeked to the U.S. because they are now preventing citizens from traveling to Europe. To my understanding, Europe seems to be taking it a lot lighter than the U.S.

"London is aware that the possibility of an attack by Al Qaeda is always present but does not believe that this threat is different today from other times of year."

Also, "The paper said British officials see no link between drone attacks the U.S. military is doing in the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the alleged series of coordinated attacks in Europe that U.S. talks."

I could be getting this wrong because of the choppy translation, but I'm a little confused as to why it would be a problem for the U.S. to take such precautions. Is this a bad thing? Or is there just a miscommunication somewhere?