There was an interesting article in the online site, The Hollywood Reporter that demands a little ethical focus for today’s post.
The article by Aaron Couch (September 24, 2014) is entitled: “Rob Schneider Fires Back After State Farm Pulls Ad Over His Anti-Vaccination Views.” The controversy sets up some interesting issues.
Rob Schneider is a comedian and actor who got his start on Saturday Night Live and over the course of the years he has been seen in many movies, on television and numerous commercials. I think he’s a funny guy, but like so many other Hollywood types, he dabbles in areas where his stance is based on opinion rather than knowledge and that’s a dangerous thing.
Mr. Schneider was a spokesperson for State Farm insurance and he was just released from his contract due to his outspoken views on vaccinating children. He has posted several angry tweets on the Twitter social media site against the insurance giant. In one tweet, he posted a link to a 2013 interview:
“The idea that vaccines don’t injure people is a fallacy,” he said in the article. “Two billion dollars have been paid out to people who have been vaccine injured or died in the United States. This is a real thing.”
The argument with Schneider erupted because vaccination advocates, knowing of Schneider’s views, lambasted State Farm for using him as a spokesperson. The commercials, intended to be fun and light-hearted, became a focal point for the debate between pro and con vaccination groups.
According to the article, State Farm issued the following quote:
“’State Farm advertising is intended to inform and entertain,’” State Farm said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter [THR]. “’This particular ad has unintentionally been used as a platform for discussion unrelated to the products and services we provide. With that, we are working to remove the ad from our rotation at this time.’”
The article went on to say:
“The comedian has been outspoken in his belief that vaccines could lead to autism and that they should not be mandatory…A recent investigation published by THR found that many schools in Los Angeles’ affluent West Side have vaccination rates experts say are dangerously low. Critics of the anti-vaccination movement say stars such as Schneider are partially responsible for lending a voice to the views.”
An Ethical Inoculation
Rob Schneider can say anything he wants to say. He has a first amendment right to say it. State Farm also has the right to phase out his involvement with their commercials. They are his employer and if they don’t like the lightning strikes Schneider brings to their company, they have the right to show him the door. Advertising is a high stakes business and like it or not, Mr. Schneider is not in any position to dictate to the people paying him.
As a parent, I don’t believe it is my business to tell another parent what to do. I will say though, that if another parent is going to force a political agenda down my throat, he or she had better be prepared to back opinions with scientific studies and medical facts and not hearsay and junk science.
The problem for me ethically in that regard, is when Rob Schneider or Jenny McCarthy use their status or power to express an anti-vaccination view where they are merely parroting articles that have appeared in “soft science” magazines. I believe in keeping an open mind on things, but my own mind closes when others rant and rave without a rational presentation of what the science is saying.
This leaves me to a final thought concerning the rather smarmy, insular, rich world of Los Angeles’ West Side. In this “sacred enclave,” a record number of parents are electing not to vaccinate. They are doing this on opinions such as Rob Schneider, one of their very own. I have carefully read Mr. Schneider’s bio and I truly admire his talent, but nowhere did I see a medical or scientific degree – and that ethically worries me.
Again, it is a parental decision however, as with any choice there are always consequences. Whether a child is vaccinated or not, does not mean the disease mechanism itself no longer exists. If exposure occurs without the benefit of vaccination, no matter what your child has been fed, or how many vitamins and gluten free snacks and tofu is consumed, there is more than a passing chance that infection may occur.
The world has become a place where many diseases that were in formerly isolated spots have now become widespread. While there is little evidence (again, I am open) to vaccinations causing autism, there is a lot of evidence that underscores the ravages of infectious diseases on the human body. Choose your guru’s wisely, ladies and gentlemen.