The Editor, Sir:

It is amazing how immune we have become to the gradual moral decay of society and the depths to which we are willing to descend in order to make sales and corner market share.

Recently, while driving around Montego Bay it hit me like a rock how decadent and sleazy we have become in our advertising and promotions. Let me expound by giving a list of the average sights one sees while on the road:

A large sign at the Montego Bay airport roundabout advertising "Wet Dreams" at Pier One, with graphics to match.

A billboard on the Howard Cooke Boulevard in front of Cars R Us advertising a vibrating ring that can make you "see stars".

Sexually explicit advertising on the sides of vehicles for a variety of tonics.

Sexually explicit posters and billboards advertising a variety of beverages which insinuate and promote them as male enhancements.

Combine this with the lyrics of the most popular songs by the likes of Vybz Kartel and Mavado and is it any wonder why our children are exhibiting antisocial and sexually explicit behaviours.

Where is the leadership of the land? I cannot fathom that the captains of industry can stand by and allow their advertising agents to promote this type of moral decadence. Is it that if one company starts the descent into the moral abyss then it is a race to the bottom in order to grab market share?

Is there no longer any sense of moral and ethical responsibility by those in industry and business? Have we become content in debasing ourselves in pursuit of revenue while being oblivious to the fact that the very thing we are promoting will be the source of our destruction as lawlessness and disorder are unleashed? We have virtually thrown off all restraints and nothing is considered sacred.

We must free ourselves

I implore the leadership of this nation - political, commercial and industrial - to exhibit restraint in their promotional materials and encourage the Broadcasting Commission to continue to censor and prohibit the transmission of audio and visual content that promotes sexual immorality and lewdness, as well as tribalism and violence.

We have been gradually overcome by this cancer and we must wrestle ourselves free. It is going to take sustained effort and it will encounter resistance if not uproar, but to continue without change is to make our demise a certainty.

I am, etc.,

Mark Kerr-Jarrett, JP

Barnett Limited

Montego Bay