Poor marketing of NFP

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I read the short article below by Ashley McGuire and thought it made some good points on marketing NFP to women:

altcatholicah.com/altcatol/a/b/rsa/4333/

With the majority of Catholic women using some form of contraception, something may be wrong with the marketing of NPF - not NFP itself. If you’ve ever seen commercials marketing birth control, the commercials feature stylish classy women living a “care free” lifestyle without the worry of pregnancy. Based on the high amount of contraception-users, the commercials must be working, because women looking to avoid pregnancy find the marketing appealing.

McGuire’s point towards the end of her article is that women are hungry for somthing different other than the Pill and its side effects, but are sometimes turned off by the NFP material. What do you think about a retooling of the NFP brand as McGuire calls for?

“Imagine if NFP became Sexy”
 
Or imagine if it was marketed at all…

Even in our pre-canaa class, NFP was barely mentioned. I mean, it was mentioned in one sentence, and we were not given any resources or information on how to get more information. The only time I ever hear of it is on this forum!
 
I don’t know much about NFP but from what i have heard about it so far (not much) is that you can only do engage in sexual relation’s with your husband/wife for a few day’s a month? :confused:
 
Paddy1989 said:
I don’t know much about NFP but from what i have heard about it so far (not much) is that you can only do engage in sexual relation’s with your husband/wife for a few day’s a month? :confused:
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Hi Paddy,

That’s not correct. Depends on the woman’s cycle, but the couple should get a solid two to three weeks per cycle for relations, with one or two for abstinence. That’s assuming regularity in the woman, which frankly is not always the case.

God Bless,
Joan
 
Joan1969 said:
Hi Paddy,

That’s not correct. Depends on the woman’s cycle, but the couple should get a solid two to three weeks per cycle for relations, with one or two for abstinence. That’s assuming regularity in the woman, which frankly is not always the case.

God Bless,
Joan
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Still i’d say for most men a few day’s would be hard enough, i think for most people they use contraception because they don’t have to worry about this sort of thing. little do they know the harm they are doing by taking it
 
It seems to me that part of NFP’s problem is that it is seen as the Catholic form of birth control. So, many doctors aren’t even trained in it or perhaps even properly understand it. When I was in Pittsburgh I somehow got roped into a NFP seminar (even though I wasn’t married or dating at that point), but I seem to remember that their list of NFP trained doctors was appalling short (and this is a city that still has several Catholic hospitals and a world-class medical system).

The article alluded to another problem. Now that I’m married and have gone through the pre-Cana classes you’re thrust into a day long event with other couples you’ve never seen and may never run into again. A couple you probably don’t know is telling you about sex. It really doesn’t get much more uncomfortable than that. Perhaps this part of the pre-Cana classes needs to be rethought and revamped. Plus a subject that has whole books, videos etc made about it is shoe horned into a half hour with a few pamphlets handed out at the end and told that more info is available.

I’m not sure I could come up with a better recipe for disaster. Everybody should read Humanae Vitae as the article suggests. A careful read will find the Church’s thinking on this laid out in very clear and concise terms and how it reaches that conclusion.

ChadS
 
mwncheesehead said:
I read the short article below by Ashley McGuire and thought it made some good points on marketing NFP to women:

altcatholicah.com/altcatol/a/b/rsa/4333/

With the majority of Catholic women using some form of contraception, something may be wrong with the marketing of NPF - not NFP itself. If you’ve ever seen commercials marketing birth control, the commercials feature stylish classy women living a “care free” lifestyle without the worry of pregnancy. Based on the high amount of contraception-users, the commercials must be working, because women looking to avoid pregnancy find the marketing appealing.

McGuire’s point towards the end of her article is that women are hungry for somthing different other than the Pill and its side effects, but are sometimes turned off by the NFP material. What do you think about a retooling of the NFP brand as McGuire calls for?

“Imagine if NFP became Sexy”
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Hi Cheese,

I think it’s easy to write an article like this to criticize the very few people who have taken the necessary sacrifices to even try to promote NFP to a very lax Catholic population. The author, if she wants to see such a marketing campaign, can start one herself with way less self-sacrifice than the Kippleys demonstrated in starting the Couple to Couple League.

The article’s also self-contradicting. First she wants to see baby or maternal-woman images eliminated from NFP marketing, then complains about “contraceptive mentality” in NFP circles? Which is it to be?

Complaints about the classes are unrealistic. Couples need this medical information, they need it presented honestly and with grown-up words, and they need to discuss all these issues well before marriage! This can’t be learned in an hour from some pamphlet in the honeymoon hotel room after all! Women especially should be charting a number of cycles before the wedding. And to get the couple accustomed to talking about these things before they are relying on them is a good real-world approach.

The underlying problem is with the majority of Catholics. Most of them, women and men alike, approve contraceptives. Period. This even applies to most of the older set who did not, perhaps, use them personally but who will participate in the sin by promoting them to sons and daughters. If images of babies, or women who are not acting like unattached singles, are a turn-off to them, they have a problem with the heart that can’t be corrected with a patronizing billboard.

The key to increasing NFP use is to have a broad-based renewal in the parish that will lead to an interest in all areas of the spiritual life, and in avoiding sin according to whatever method is most practical. In that environment, NFP will not need clever marketing, only simple publicity and common-sense support.

God Bless,
Joan
 
Paddy1989 said:
Still i’d say for most men a few day’s would be hard enough, i think for most people they use contraception because they don’t have to worry about this sort of thing. little do they know the harm they are doing by taking it
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Hi Paddy,

In all reality, men will need to abstain from relations for at least a week or two from time to time during married life. Wives will travel, develop illness, have babies, or have many other reasons to avoid sex for an extended period of time.

Yes, it’s difficult to do that every month. Christian life is more difficult than worldly life. So what else is new under the sun? 😉

God Bless,
Joan
 
ChadS said:
It seems to me that part of NFP’s problem is that it is seen as the Catholic form of birth control. So, many doctors aren’t even trained in it or perhaps even properly understand it. When I was in Pittsburgh I somehow got roped into a NFP seminar (even though I wasn’t married or dating at that point), but I seem to remember that their list of NFP trained doctors was appalling short (and this is a city that still has several Catholic hospitals and a world-class medical system).

The article alluded to another problem. Now that I’m married and have gone through the pre-Cana classes you’re thrust into a day long event with other couples you’ve never seen and may never run into again. A couple you probably don’t know is telling you about sex. It really doesn’t get much more uncomfortable than that. Perhaps this part of the pre-Cana classes needs to be rethought and revamped. Plus a subject that has whole books, videos etc made about it is shoe horned into a half hour with a few pamphlets handed out at the end and told that more info is available.

I’m not sure I could come up with a better recipe for disaster. Everybody should read Humanae Vitae as the article suggests. A careful read will find the Church’s thinking on this laid out in very clear and concise terms and how it reaches that conclusion.

ChadS
Click to expand...
👍👍👍👍

So true, ChadS, so true.
 
Joan1969 said:
Hi Paddy,

That’s not correct. Depends on the woman’s cycle, but the couple should get a solid two to three weeks per cycle for relations, with one or two for abstinence. That’s assuming regularity in the woman, which frankly is not always the case.

God Bless,
Joan
Click to expand...
Don’t be fooled, we and many other couples only get 2-3 days per month…sometimes…
 
I was visiting an elderly couple that had EWTN on, and there was a female doctor, Janet something, that was giving a talk at a conference. It was taped and aired on EWTN.

She had some very interesting things to say about NFP. I would love to be able to see her on youtube or something. I really was there to visit and didn’t get much details of the show. Maybe someone can point me and anyone reading this thread to more info on her.
 
emmar said:
Don’t be fooled, we and many other couples only get 2-3 days per month…sometimes…
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Wow, Emmar, is that true? I don’t think it’s physically possible for a woman to be fertile that many days a month.:confused: It must be that you have trouble reading your fertility signs? I hope you’ll be able to get in touch with someone from Couple to Couple League to help you with that. Their classes helped us a lot when we were learning NFP.
 
Schieffelin said:
Wow, Emmar, is that true? I don’t think it’s physically possible for a woman to be fertile that many days a month.:confused: It must be that you have trouble reading your fertility signs? I hope you’ll be able to get in touch with someone from Couple to Couple League to help you with that. Their classes helped us a lot when we were learning NFP.
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Emmar, there must be something not right if you only had 2-3 days a month. In our experience, my wife was available during the infertile period a majority of the days of the month. I don’t remember the exact amount, but we only abstained about a week and a half, give or take.
 
Paddy1989 said:
Still i’d say for most men a few day’s would be hard enough, i think for most people they use contraception because they don’t have to worry about this sort of thing. little do they know the harm they are doing by taking it
Click to expand...
It can be done my friend, it can be done. 😉
 
mwncheesehead said:
Emmar, there must be something not right if you only had 2-3 days a month. In our experience, my wife was available during the infertile period a majority of the days of the month. I don’t remember the exact amount, but we only abstained about a week and a half, give or take.
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A week and a half is 10 to 11 days out of the month. That is 33% of the time that you are unable to have sex with each other. I guess you were right when you say that your wife was available the MAJORITY (66%) of the month. To me 33% down time is not acceptable.:eek:
 
I knew about the pill and condoms since I was nine years old. I learned about NFP 6 months before I got married when I was 26. Is it any wonder the pill is more common?

Not to mention most of the discussion with NFP talks about how to avoid which makes it sound like Catholic Birth Control. My husband and I agreed it sounded like the Church was trying to pull a fast one knowing that the majority of signs can be misread and the couples will get pregnant anyways. We finally had the guts to say something to the priest after the Engagement Encounter Weekend (and how many couples would’ve just kept their mouths shut). He explained the theology to us and the problems of the “contraceptive” mindset.

You can’t really blame Catholics for not using NFP when they don’t know about it.
 
Many Catholics have no idea what NFP is about. With that said, it is very difficult do market something to a couple that includes not have sex and only be able to use it for serious reason (something even those that practice NFP conveniently ignore).
 
Maybe part of the problem is the terminology. I know a lot of people who refer to it as “Catholic birth control,” and equate it with the rhythm method. Maybe marketing it as something like “fertility management program” might not be a better idea, mainly because it can be used to assist with as well as avoid conception.
 
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