‘Would you be more careful with your vote if it was you that got pregnant?’

This is the question which forms the strapline of Saatchi & Saatchi’s iconic Pregnant Man campaign, which has been brought back to life in the wake of the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade. 

The landmark ruling is a historic erosion of women’s human rights and body autonomy which has ushered in an unprecedented response from businesses that have moved quickly to implement new policies to support women wishing to travel out of state to access abortion services. 

The new version of the advertising campaign has been recreated with the face of US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Alito has a long track record of opposing abortion rights and has voted to uphold every abortion law the Supreme Court has considered since his confirmation in 2006. Alito has since been reported to have mocked Prince Harry and Boris Johnson’s criticism of the ruling.

The ‘Would you be more careful if it was you that got pregnant?’ campaign was the very first advertisement Saatchi & Saatchi created in 1970 for the Health Education Council. In an industry in which the word ‘iconic’ is perhaps over-used, this campaign is unique in both its long-term fame and relevance, which has stood the test of time. 

It is ironic perhaps that the question of how men would behave, think or even vote if they were the ones who got pregnant is a conversation that is, unfortunately, more timely today than it was when the campaign was first created in 1970. A painful reminder that progress is not always a linear pursuit. While the campaign’s original strapline ‘Would you be more careful if it was you that got pregnant?’ is still a relevant conversation today, the new strapline: ‘Would you be more careful with your vote if it was you that got pregnant?’ underlines the painful truth that women in the US arguably have less autonomy over their bodies today than in the 1970s. 

Yet, the campaign also highlights the unique power and influence of the advertising industry and its ability to use every tool at its disposal to positively impact culture and society. 

Saatchi & Saatchi CCO Franki Goodwin explained: “We should be using every platform we have in the UK to show support for women’s rights as they are rolled back in the US. We are proud to be able to lend this iconic piece of Saatchi creative to highlight the hypocrisy and the regression of the Supreme court’s decision.” 

The activist Soraya Chemaly writes that the anger we have as women is an act of radical imagination. This campaign is a powerful reminder of the power of exercising that imagination to challenge an increasingly toxic and regressive status quo.