George,

If I were a young person seeing the “Saving the World Isn’t Easy” television ad and took its major message to heart, I would give up any thought of trying to be active on behalf of any cause to improve conditions in the world. The ad clearly sends the message that any such activity is hopeless and will likely have unintended consequences that would be worse than the original problem. Forget helping others or improving society; the best you can do is give some blood and then go about succumbing to the powers that be. It is hard enough to get young people to be politically active without having an ad like this reinforce their basic cynicism.

David RePass (electronic mail, September 12, 2005)

Editor's Note: For related letter, see Brendan Ferreri-Hanberry Comments About Blood-Donation Ads.