Sir.—I am writing with regard to the marginal comment "Should the Media Advertise Contraceptives?" by Dr Greydanus in the Journal (1981; 135:687-688).
The medium that Dr Greydanus is most anxious to see advertise contraceptives is television, in the hope that this will cause more sexually active teenagers to use contraceptives and, therefore, to decrease the incidence of teenage pregnancy and venereal disease (VD). His reasoning is that television has a powerful impact on our society and that television has already entered the arena of sex education by portraying "overt sexuality" on the screen.
In his marginal comment, Dr Greydanus states, "If overt sexuality can be constantly portrayed by the media [television], why not also show the viewer more responsible sexuality? It remains a serious contradiction that the media can portray open, nonresponsible sex and then refuse to allow alternatives to this (ie, contraceptive information)." He further states, "The television