Wait For The Bling

Status: Real
image Sightings of a curious abstinence-promoting billboard are being reported throughout Iowa. The message that the billboard offers: Wait For The Bling. While teen pregnancy is obviously a serious problem, these billboards almost seem like a joke (and have a few people questioning if they're photoshopped). But they seem to be real. The fine print on the bottom of the billboard reveals that they're created by the Iowa Department of Public Health's Abstinence Education Program. Maybe they'll have the desired effect, though I doubt it. Seems to me like they could just as easily be interpreted to mean "Don't do anything until the guy gives you an expensive gift." (via Eschaton)

Birth/Babies Photos Sex/Romance

Posted on Mon Nov 28, 2005



Comments

This billboard would totally prevent me from having sex until I get a nice ring!
Posted by Cathy  on  Mon Nov 28, 2005  at  08:58 PM
What a strange advertising campaign!
Posted by Smerk  on  Mon Nov 28, 2005  at  10:08 PM
Or, if you're a guy, until the girl gives you an expensive present.
Posted by cvirtue  on  Tue Nov 29, 2005  at  03:48 AM
What a waste of tax money! Not just the billboard, the department too. When will these people understand? ... ideological goals and solutions to problems in society, are two very different things.
Posted by Henri  on  Tue Nov 29, 2005  at  05:45 AM
So Iowan's tax dollars are paying for this???

Of all the bad reasons for getting married, doing it in order to get a ring has to be the worst one of all.

Just buy your own damn ring. Believe me, it's a lot cheaper (and more satisfying) in the long run.
Posted by Big Gary in Falfurrias, Texas  on  Tue Nov 29, 2005  at  04:37 PM
Instead, maybe the Iowa DoH should put up billboards suggesting that you imagine that your boyfriend/girlfriend has a terrible, hideous disease. That was the typical advice offered in my parents' youth, the last period when anybody thought abstinance campaigns could work.
Posted by Big Gary in Falfurrias, Texas  on  Tue Nov 29, 2005  at  04:40 PM
Teaching abstinence in school is like teaching a karate class how to run away.
Posted by Citizen Premier  on  Wed Nov 30, 2005  at  03:49 PM
I didn't know there was such a thing as the Iowa Department of Public Health's Abstinence Education Program. The peoples money goes towards crap like that? Poor people.
Posted by Lady Hedoniste  on  Wed Nov 30, 2005  at  07:02 PM
Teen pregnancy is not obviously a serious problem, Alex. That is a myth or hoax. (Unless you regard it as a moral problem.) When poor women have babies, they cause the same problems regardless of what age they have them. Teenagers do not have problems because they have babies; they have babies because they have problems. There was a study done with the help of Hillary Clinton and MTV in 1997 by UCLA scholar V. Joseph Hotz that showed this, diappointing a lot of people. See Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1997, pp. A1, A14-A15.
Posted by Eivind  on  Wed Nov 30, 2005  at  09:57 PM
I live in Iowa and I Travel around the state a lot and I have yet to see one of these signs anywhere. I think someone is trying to mess with peoples minds. Some Iowans are kind of strange but I really don't think anyone in the Iowa goverment would allow crap like that on a sign here.
Posted by Dean  on  Fri Dec 02, 2005  at  10:42 PM
I have seen this billboard. It is totally real, and hilarious.
Posted by Loafgoat  on  Sat Dec 03, 2005  at  12:22 PM
I am waiting for the Americhristain Right campaign based on the reported death of a girl in Canada from kissing her peanut butter eating boyfriedn - She, being allergic, went into anaphylactic shock and passed on. Imagine the potential -

" If you kiss boys, YOU'LL DIE!!!!!"
Posted by DFStuckey  on  Sat Dec 03, 2005  at  08:03 PM
How long until this comes out as a plot for a movie or TV show: "The Peanut Butter Assassin"? I'm guessing it will show up in the next ratings sweeps period.
Posted by Big Gary in Sweetwater, Texas  on  Sun Dec 04, 2005  at  02:41 PM
Maybe they would use this as an excuse for their children, "Don't kiss Canadians, they can kill you just by breathing on you!
Posted by Lady Hedoniste  on  Tue Dec 13, 2005  at  06:05 PM
From the official website:

Teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity."

Does this mean onanism?
Posted by Russy the Magnificent  on  Tue Mar 07, 2006  at  06:14 PM
I am 13 years old and I have got to say, hoax or not there are a lot of dumb abstinence-promoting advertisments out there and the way I see it is through media and eveything teens are getting the wrong ideas. But adults and elders and even peers can tell us not to have sex until they're blue in the face and no matter what abstinence-promoting stuff there is, it all comes down to individual will power. If we want to make a good choice or not. Trying to say "don't have sex" in a bunch of different ways isn't going to anything if people don't see it! I say as long as we have a strong support group and a family who teaches good values then that's all we need. But that's the sad part isn't it, no enough people have that and so our society is resorting to stupidity to get messages across. And adults wonder why some teens these days don't respect them anymore... look around... we are treated like we don't listen but it's only because sadly, not enought teens have any beliefs or values! I think that is sad. As a teen myself I'm insulted by how the majority creates a stereotype and there isn't room for the teens who DO want to make a difference. It seems like the only people some teens will listen to are other teens.

Sorry if that made no sense and I know I kinda got off the topic of hoaxes but I just needed to rant. 😊
Posted by Chels  on  Thu Jun 22, 2006  at  08:28 PM
Chels, You have humbled at least one 'older person' who, despite the fact that they try to listen to the words and the wisdom instead of the age, gender, height, mass, colour, orientation or creed of the speaker, sometimes makes as big a mistake as many of his peers.

I find you have spoken a truth that needs to be said on many subjects in the world today, and that should be shouted from rooftops if needs be; And I agree that any message should be backed up by supportive family and adults who make good example sof what they preach. Personally, I have found that many people in my age group ( Some of whom have teenage children ) are still too immature to cope with sexual relationships, and not a few much younger people who are more than adult enough to know their minds in that respect and even commit to marriage. I confess to being jealous of both, but that is by the wayside to my point.

I hope you _are_ appreciated by those around you Chels . . . You have a mind of scope and power, and may you find success in everything you apply it to.

And frankly, there are others on this site who could take maturity lessons from you 😉
Posted by DFStuckey  on  Fri Jun 23, 2006  at  03:23 AM
Being the product of teenage sex, and not wanting any of my children to end up in the same predicament (I had to change that from position), I have taken a different perspective with my teens. I have told them that it's OK to have sex. I recall that the thrill of doing stuff that was forbidden was a big enticement and so I figured I would try a little reverse psycology. Also I have told my children that I will provide them with all the protection they need, up to putting my daughter on birth control.

I would much rather let them know it is OK and give them the safeguards to prevent the problem rather than have them try and hide something and have a problem.

Touching on the issue of sex-ed in schools, does teaching drivers ed in school mean that teens want to go out and get into accidents?
Posted by Lounge Lizard  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  05:36 PM
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