Contraceptive Advertising 1972 Campaign

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In March 1972, a campaign was launched by the ANU Students Association to challenge ACT legislation that prohibited the advertising of contraceptives unless prior written permission was obtained from the ACT Director General of Health. The advertising of contraceptives was also illegal in every Australian State except South Australia. It was clear that this situation contributed to the high number of unwanted pregnancies in Australia and severely frustrated the work of the fledgling Family Planning Association of Australia.

 A poster/advertisement was designed. See below. It would occupy the back page of an issue of the ANU student newspaper, Woroni, and shortly after, the back page of the national student newspaper, National U, published by the Australian Union of Students. A letter was drafted seeking the permission of the ACT Director General of Health twenty-four hours prior to the poster/advertisement’s publication in Woroni. The letter effectively flagged the Association’s intention to publish no matter what. Publication proceeded as planned. Eventually, a letter arrived at the ANU Students Association office declining the Director General’s permission. The edition of Woroni carrying the poster/advertisement was duly circulated (a special drop was made to the Parliamentary Press Gallery) and single sheets were posted all over the campus and Canberra’s Civic Centre. The campaign was afoot.

Grumpy police (who would rather chase criminals) raided the campus looking for copies of Woroni to confiscate and questions were asked in the Federal Parliament by a senator waiving the offending copy of Woroni and complaining about the unraveling of the country’s moral fibre. Immediately following this incident, the editor of The Nation Review negotiated for the exclusive use of the poster/advertisement for the front cover of his national Sunday paper. A journalist following the story for Canberra’s afternoon newspaper, The Canberra Post, who had similar intentions kindly moved his coverage of the saga to headline page 3. The Bulletin magazine also picked up the story. The nation was reminded of this archaic provision, and its unnecessary, perverse consequences, still sitting on the legislature of 5 of its 6 States.

 A demographer working in the ANU Institute of Advanced Studies tracked the ramifications of the campaign. He subsequently reported to the Students Association that within six months of the release of the poster/advertisement legislation in all States making it illegal to advertise contraceptives had been repealed.