Right-Wing Media Use Provocative Insurance Ads To Slut-Shame Women

Right-wing media figures capitalized on provocative advertisements for Obamacare from non-profit groups in Colorado to attack a woman who uses free birth control as a “slut,” “whore,” and “prostitute.”

Colorado-Based Groups Release Series Of Insurance Ads Targeting Young People

Business Insider: Colorado Non-Profits Try To Promote Obamacare By “Crafting Ads They Hope Will Go Viral.” Business Insider reported on the “Got Insurance?” ad campaign from non-profits Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and Progress Now, which encourage young Americans to sign up for insurance on the new health care exchanges with references to beer, celebrities, and birth control, and explained that the ads were intended to be provocative:

The “Got Insurance?” campaign, which was launched by the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and Progress Now, has three targets: young adults, women, and minority groups. And to encourage those groups to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, they are creating ads they hope will go “viral” on social media.

[...]

So far, the ads are working at getting attention — even as the reaction has been mostly negative among commentators. The latest ads released Tuesday are aimed at young women, including a couple that feature actor Ryan Gosling[.]

“It’s been fun to watch how it all plays out,” Adam Fox, the director of strategic engagement for the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. “We’ve seen both positive and negative reactions, but if people are seeing the ads and purchasing health insurance, that’s a good thing.”

It does appear to be working, at least in that sense. Traffic to the site that features the ads exploded so much on Tuesday that the site went down for a few minutes. [Business Insider, 11/12/13]

Right-Wing Media Respond To Ads By Slut-Shaming Women Who Use Free Birth Control

Rush Limbaugh: Obamacare Ads Tell Young People, “If You Like Being A Prostitute, Then Have At It.” Discussing the ads on his radio show and falsely claiming they were produced by the Obama administration instead of Colorado-based non-profits, Rush Limbaugh claimed that the ads promoted a “risky, promiscuous lifestyle”:

LIMBAUGH: What these ads are really promising: if you like your risky, promiscuous lifestyle, you can keep it. That’s what Obama’s promising. If you like being promiscuous, you can keep on being promiscuous. If you like being a prostitute, then have at it. If you like your risky, promiscuous lifestyle, you can keep it. That’s what Obama is promising in these ads. [The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11/13/13, via Media Matters]

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham: Colorado Ads For Obamacare Encourage “Promiscuity.” On her radio show, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham claimed that the ads encouraged “promiscuity” and “unsafe sex,” while Laura Ingraham Show contributor Raymond Arroyo suggested that women who use birth control will “get cancer.” [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 11/13/13] 

Fox News’ Katie Pavlich: Keep “Hoeing Yourselves Out Ladies, Obamacare Depends On It!”  Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich tweeted, “Keeping hoeing yourselves out ladies, Obamacare depends on it!” [sic] and included a picture of one of the ads, which featured a woman holding birth control pills:

 

[Twitter.com, 11/12/13]

Washington Times‘ Emily Miller Calls Women Depicted In Ads “Cheap Sluts.” Washington Times senior opinion editor Emily Miller claimed that the ads which featured women using birth control depicted “young women like cheap sluts,” and pointed out that neither the man nor woman depicted in one of the ads “is wearing a wedding band.” [The Washington Times, 11/12/13]

Fox News’ Michelle Malkin: “Floozycare!” Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin tweeted a picture of one of the ads with the caption, “FloozyCare!”

[Twitter.com, 11/12/13]

The Blaze Host Dana Loesch: “The ‘You’re A Whore’ Ad For Obamacare.” Blaze contributor and conservative radio show host Dana Loesch tweeted an image of one of the ads, writing, “So basically, hosurance,” and labeling it ”the ‘you’re a whore’ ad for Obamacare.”

[Twitter.com, 11/12/13, 11/12/13]

Media Matters for America – Research Items

Right-Wing Media Use Provocative Insurance Ads To Slut-Shame Women