Advertisement – The Answer

Thanks to those of yall who participated in the little contest we had on this photo:

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We got a lot of great guesses. The closest one was Anna from Germany.

In fact, it is an advertisement for an abortion clinic.

Here is a mostly complete translation of the ad that I put together:

Xining Family Planning Guidance Center

When you are having a surgical abortion, you do not want to take it lightly by doing something like taking medicine on your own to induce an abortion or going to have an abortion at a little clinic lacking the proper qualifications.

It is very easy to have an unsafe abortion, to lose large amounts of blood or to catch a pathogen after the surgery. It may lead to a penetration of the ovaries, where you are not able to get pregnant.

Put your heart at ease.

Harmonious Family Planning,
Serve the People.

I think this ad says a lot about China and how the Chinese view abortion. How do you talk about something that no one wants to talk about? Just as feminine hygiene commercials use pictures of feathers or images of women mowing the lawn, this ad seeks to talk about abortion by showing an attractive woman lying comfortably, hence all the comments from people thinking this was an ad for bedding or wedding dresses. This ad is redefining the process of abortion, moving it from something that is frightening, dangerous and possibly forced (occasionally, Chinese bureaucrats still force women to have abortions in order to meet family planning quotas set by the central government), to a leisurely procedure that, if done by this hospital, is not at all problematic.

When I saw this ad, I thought it said a lot about modern China, and not in a particularly good way.

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