Ad nauseam...

My jaw dropped one recent morning en route to work. We had the radio on and there was an ad -- for a local infertility clinic! I'd heard of clinics advertising in the States, but I had never heard such an ad myself. Until now.

And it was just as bad & cliched as you'd expect/fear. It starts with a baby's giggle & then a cloying female voice talking about the clinic... and how the nice people there "explained everything -- after that, it was a piece of cake."

"PIECE OF CAKE?!?!?!" I practically shouted at the radio (and, unfortunately, into poor dh's ear). Yep, that's exactly what she said.

Now, I can think of many descriptions for my infertility clinic experience -- but "piece of cake" is definitely NOT one of them. And I can't think of too many (if any) other IF-ers I know who would use that term either. Sheesh.

On the flip side of the coin -- there's a great article on Salon.com right now about an innovative infertility ad campaign -- which Julie at A Little Pregnant wrote about awhile back. (She's quoted in the article.)

Do yourself a favour -- don't read the comments (sigh...)... although you're actually forewarned in the article itself, lol. Sample quote:

"The assumption persists that every (married) woman will have a child, even those who aren't interested. So you can imagine how that might feel for those who are. But, then, articles about infertility online, for one, often elicit ungenerous commentary that basically boils down to "boo-fucking-hoo." Our nation's collective pop-culture "bump watch" being on permanent orange alert (what Rebecca Traister called "pregnancy porn") doesn't help, either.

"Speaking of culture, it's not overflowing with positive, nuanced or compassionate images of women struggling to conceive or seeking fertility treatment. (One word: "octo-mom.") Also, if you totally forgot that there was a dramedy about a fertility clinic on NBC called "Inconceivable," good."

Thank you, Emily, for posting about this article on Facebook!