It's NFP Week (Natural Family Planning, or as I like to call it, Numerous Flowering Pastures Week....iykyk).
And from both haters and enthusiasts...it could use some marketing help. Like, some MAJOR marketing help. So, here are three ways to market NFP:
Be honest. Go check out @totalwhine_ to get into the nitty gritty of it (this is her lane and she ROCKS at it), but I'll add my two cents from a marketing perspective: Sugarcoating that NFP will be easy and give you the marriage of your dreams is the same act of lying that healthcare professionals who push birth control as the end-all, be-all answer succumb to. We're not doing families any better service by not being transparent about what it is and isn't - and transparency sells.
If this is the only week you're promoting NFP at your church, you're doing it wrong. And if you're only telling engaged couples about it...also not great. I get it - there's a billion important issues to talk about in the Church. But women's healthcare and fertility is one of the top hot button issues that divides people from the faith, and we can only begin to stop that trend if we talk about it openly and clearly from a young age. If we cannot rely on the Church to talk to us about why NFP is the recommendation, then we cannot expect people to practice it. Pearl and Thistle has amazing resources for parishes if you want to get started!
For the love of all that is holy, PLEASE stop using photos of couples frolicking in flowering meadows at sunset as your NFP awareness photo. Just stop. No one is practicing NFP in a field. This just buys into the whole "NFP will make your marriage sunny" vibe. If our imagery doesn’t match our message, then confusion is the only reaction we can expect to receive.
In sum? Market NFP like we do all of the Church's teachings: honesty about the struggles involved but also the true joys that come from that sacrifice.
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