All these past years, reliable observers agreed to forecast that the population in France around the year 2000 would be mostly of Arab origin. Some people were afraid of that, some others thought there was just nothing which could be done about it; politicians felt concerned, demographers wrote alarming reports and talked of natality rates, of the incapacity to replace the generations, but all these talks were austere and grim. The most common reaction was to deplore the fact and go back to one’s own life without thinking any more of it.
These last few weeks though, some big advertising agencies decided to go about it differently: they chose to talk to the hearts of French people, instead of frightening them with statistics or preaching moral values that many felt are obsolete. So they just advertised “France needs children” with photographs of babies; just some nice and smiling babies. The success was that, in fact, young French people just love babies as much as former generations did. They reacted very strongly to these ads which evoke the “joie de vivre” instead of the very fashionable “pleasure of possession.”
So, even if it is a bit too early to hope for a “baby boom” in a few months, we can hope that this love-story will give to the French people the desire to live among children. The economy needs it, that’s for sure, but the individuals need it too so that their hearts do not dry up in selfishness and solitude. As a recent poll proved, people are getting aware of these things. So, in France, are there signs of hope? Definitely yes, that is one.
