Neither low wages, nor job insecurity, nor difficulties in accessing housing. The new campaign of the Association of Large Families of Madrid considers that these factors do not constitute real reasons to delay or avoid making the decision to have children at a time when the number of births in Spain reaches a historic low . Displayed on bus shelters and metro stations in the capital, the campaign uses the slogan “Are you running out of rice? to point out that some of the usual reasons behind this are “excuses”.
“Some things, if postponed, are lost forever. I hope they don’t confuse you, you can start a family and grow it,” read the ads, accompanied by a QR code that leads to a video from the association’s YouTube channel. He place It begins with a warning: “The images in this video are made with Artificial Intelligence, they are not real. Just like the excuses we sometimes make for not having children.
From there, a voiceover lists the alleged pretexts under the phrase “they do it to you by stealth”, implying that these are ideas instilled by others and mixing these reasons linked to the economic situation with questions related to lifestyles or lifestyles. others who are inclined to exaggeration. “If you want kids later because now it’s time to travel, they sneak you in”, “if you think your partner has to be perfect, they sneak you in” or “if you need ‘an affordable mattress. .. exactly what? How much ? » asks the ad.
Furthermore, the campaign, which tends to simplify a complex subjectthat of the low birth rate, behind which lies an accumulation of social, cultural, political and economic factors that experts have been studying for years, also trivializes the reason for reconciling personal and family life that some use. And he even does it by comparing taking care of a son or daughter with the development of daily or leisure activities: “That it is impossible to reconcile work and family? Well, nothing more than going to the gym and partying with friends.
The campaign highlights that wanting to “establish your professional career”, thinking that “in five years you will be better prepared”, that children “spend too much”, “it is a task that is beyond your control” or believing that “this will deprive you of time to enjoy your partner” are not very “real” reasons. “Should you first buy a house? “They infiltrate it,” adds the ad, which ignores studies that highlight, for example, l sustained increase in the cost of parenthood in Spain – 672 euros per month per son or daughter in 2022, according to Save the Children – that “Many people cannot be allowed”, according to the organization “And while they drain it, you pass them the rice”, concludes the ad.
