Since it is Sunday, should share something interesting yet still be enlightening. Think of one. It happened several years ago in Taiwan. Here it goes.
https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/08/28/fertilityd6981.png
Background information
- Taiwan is among the lowest fertility places in the world in recent years. From this source, you can see its fertility rate is 1.12 for 2015 at the very bottom of the list. Compare this number with mainland China, still much lower than China’s 1.60 - who not long ago still implements a one child policy! Not to mention that Taiwan’s 2015 number has bounced a little bit from previous years.
What did the Government do to boost it?
- Yes, the government is responsible for saving everyone, including those unborn. But… to be honest, maybe ultimately it IS the performance of the government that contributed to this long term low fertility phenomenon - people can’t see the future and the economy is not doing well especially in terms of distribution…
- Yet, they did try to do something. Not to eliminate themselves, no way. But to subsidize, how creative. From central to local governments, they dished out many subsidies for newborns and pregnant women from monthly stipend, free vaccines for babies to longer maternity leaves… However, money isn’t significant enough, leaves only valid mostly for government employees. Who would give birth to a child just for some freebies? They just made couples who already plan to have babies feel better. So, they panicked.
A Million Dollar for a Slogan
- So they came up with this brilliant idea in 2010 - host a slogan contest! and the biggest prize is One Million (tw) Dollars (around 31,500 UDS now) for whoever submits the best pro-baby slogan. Just brilliant, isn’t it?
- This contest lasts for half and year. Yes, they were very serious and determined to find “the one” slogan that can magically lure couples to have babies, more babies….
- The final result is a very creative lady, Ms Chang, from Taichung, 32 years of age then, single, no baby of course, has won this big prize with her magic slogan. Let’s see how magical it is.
“A child is the best kind of family heirloom” / 孩子~是我們最好的傳家寶。
- Yeah. That’s it. This is the translation by Taipei Times (source). The Chinese version did sound better than the English translation. But still we have trouble finding any magic power from it.
- How about that @dollarvigilante !? Ms Chang earns twice as much as your famous post, and WITH only 9 words (in Chinese it’s 11 words). How many words in your post?
- Some great slogans were dismissed due to governments’ lack of humor. I would pick this one if I was in charge: “the future of sperms should not lie in your tissues.”
What we should learn from this
- A. Knowledge is power.
- B. Governments are stupid.
- C. Don’t be tricked by others to have babies. Trick others and get paid.
- D. All of the above.
I will leave this homework to you. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
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