The controversy surrounding Italy’s first fertility day, a day designed to encourage Italians to have children, was reignited on Wednesday following accusations that the cover of a booklet published by the health ministry illustrating good and bad personal habits was racist.
The cover of the booklet showed two white couples, arms draped around one another, exhibiting behaviour that was good for fertility, while the image that represented poor habits showed a black person among a group doing drugs.
Outrageously racist cover of Italian gvt fertility leaflet (which doesn't even touch upon #infertility you can't "prevent") #fertilityday pic.twitter.com/QDcPjfkimE
— Claire Fernandez (@CFerKic) September 21, 2016
The image, which appeared to show people smoking marijuana, looks like it was first used in an anti-drug campaign by the US state of Arizona, according to an image published by the Phoenix New Times.
An article in La Repubblica said the contrast between the “good” and “bad” images smacked of racism and the booklet was criticised on social media outlets as being racist.
The accusation was rejected by health minister Beatrice Lorenzin, a member of the New Centre Right, a conservative coalition partner in prime minister Matteo Renzi’s centrist government, who is known for her opposition to parental rights for same-sex parents. She has been an outspoken critic of surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy.
“The photos represent a homogeneity of people, as is the multi-ethnic society in which we live,” the health ministry said in a statement. “Racism is in the eye of the beholder.”
The controversy came just weeks after the original ad campaign to promote the Thursday’s national fertility day, an initiative meant to raise awareness about infertility and promote reproductive health and fertility treatments, was widely derided as offensive.
In one ad, a woman was shown holding an hourglass and the campaign included the slogan: “Beauty knows no age. Fertility does”. The campaign was dropped and was meant to be replaced by one that was more scientific and focused on useful information.
