Shock Tactics: Co-Sleeping Ad (Warning: Disturbing Picture)

Redbook

By Charlotte Hilton Andersen, REDBOOK

For the first time in my life, I found myself hoping that the ad I saw had been heavily photoshopped. The public service ad from Milwaukee's health department (see image) features an adorable infant snuggling up to a… meat cleaver. What parent would allow that awful a photo shoot to happen? But the real controversy is about the tagline: "Sleeping with your baby can be just as dangerous." Co-sleeping has long been one of the most contentious issues in parenting, with advocates pointing out that this is how humans have slept for thousands of years and others pointing to all the incidences where parents smothered their newborns.

As the mom of four kids, I'll admit that I have never co-slept with any of my children. But this is for different reasons. (I can't sleep with anyone touching me, and babies are noisy sleepers.) If my kids sleep with me, then they will be the only ones in the bed actually sleeping. But that's just me. (Yes, I know that given this information, it's a miracle we had four children; all I can say is my poor, poor husband.) I would never presume to tell other parents what to do in their bed, though; it's not my job.

But it is the job of the Milwaukee Health Department. Their job is to inform the public, and "if it saves just one baby…" then they've done that job. Experts have mixed opinions on the sensationalist ad. While some decry such shock tactics as inappropriate, others say that, regardless of the ad, the message is still an important one. Real moms-at least the ones I talked to-find the ad only reinforces the positions they already hold on the issue. I didn't have any friends on either side of the issue for whom this ad changed their mind. It seems the only thing this ad did was get people talking about co-sleeping again.

Appropriate or over-the-top: What's your opinion on shock ads like this?

Charlotte Hilton Andersen is a mom of 5 and the author of the book The Great Fitness Experiment: One Year of Trying Everything and the blog of the same name.

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