If you’re in Italy, mark your calendar for Sept. 22, when the country will celebrate its state-sponsored “Fertility Day” to promote family planning and parenthood. Think that name is bad? It gets worse. 
 
 The government’s campaign aimed at upping Italy’s birth rate, which health minister Beatrice Lorenzin introduced this week, features a series of 12 promotional images that were supposed to be encouraging but came off as oddly threatening and, alas, went viral for all the wrong reasons. One with an image of a woman holding an hourglass says: “Beauty has no age. But fertility does,” according to Quartz. Another reads, “Male fertility is much more vulnerable than you might think,” and shows a browning banana peel. 
 
 Italy’s low birth rate—along with its aging population and generous social services—is a threat to its financial future. According to World Bank data, there were 1.4 childbirths per Italian woman in 2014, well below the world average of 2.45. For comparison, the U.K.’s rate was 1.8 and the United States’ was 1.9. 
 
 Reuters reports that Italy’s birthrate landed at 1.35 last year, giving the country its lowest birth total in 154 years. 
 
 The trouble with the Fertility Day campaign isn’t that the low birthrate won’t cause real problems, it’s that those problems shouldn’t be women’s to solve. That’s especially true since Italian workplace culture is still stacked against women, as evidenced by a practice known as “dimissioni in bianco,” which a 2014 report by the European Parliament defined as “employers making [the] hiring of young women conditional to signing an undated letter of resignation to be used to justify dismissal in case of pregnancy.” 
 
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 Another stark example pregnancy prejudice came in the recent race for Rome mayor. When Giorgia Meloni announced her bid for the office while pregnant, she garnered unsolicited advice from former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who told a radio station, “A mother cannot be mayor. Being mayor means being in your office 14 hours a day. I don’t think this could be the right choice for Meloni.” (Berlusconi was ousted from office in 2011 after a string of sex and financial scandals.) 
 
 Critics of the Fertility Day campaign have also cited the nation’s high joblessness as a reason for the low birthrate and as the real issue—rather than women’s reproductive decisions—that the government should address. In July, unemployment in the country was 11.4%—fourth-highest in the 28-member European Union. 
 
 The opposition 5-Star Movement said in a statement that women “responsibly consider the future” before having kids. “There’s no work [in Italy]. People aren’t having kids because it’s not possible.” 
 
 Even Prime Minister Matteo Renzi criticized the campaign, telling a radio station Thursday, “I don’t know of any of my friends who had kids after they saw an advertisement.” 
 
 “If you want to create a society that invests in its future and has children, you have to make sure the underlying conditions are there,” he said, citing the need for good jobs and childcare services. 
 
 The tone deafness of the campaign also reflects Italy’s on-going struggle to get more women in positions of power. Women made some gains in June when 5 Star’s Virginia Raggi became the first female mayor of Rome, and Chiara Appendino, also of the Five Star Movement, clinched Turin’s mayorship. But still, just 28% of Italy’s Senators and 31% of its House members are women. There are five women in Renzi’s 16-member cabinet—down from eight in 2014. 
 
 Italian media reports on Thursday indicated that Lorenzin was open to restructuring the campaign amid the on-going backlash. The Ministry of Health told Fortune that Lorenzin stood by the “principal themes” of the campaign but is going to “improve the communicative approach.” 
 
 The campaign should be scrapped altogether since it implies that women are nothing more than baby-making machines—and it doesn’t help that it’s reminding people of the childrearing approach of dictator Benito Mussolini. 
 
 This story has been updated to include the Ministry of Health’s comments. ||||| In its battle to get Italians to make more babies, the Italian government has made an embarrassing misstep. 
 
 Health minister Beatrice Lorenzin recently announced that Sept. 22 would be the country’s first ”Fertility Day,” when state-sponsored events in Rome, Bologna, Catania and Padova offer the public information about family planning and encourage parenthood. In anticipation of that special day, the ministry launched a #FertilityDay campaign, with 12 promotional images that quickly went viral in all the wrong ways. 
 
 Several images have a vaguely threatening tone: “Beauty has no age. But fertility does,” reads one, with an image of a stress-smiling woman thrusting an hourglass into the foreground. ”Fertility is a common good,” declares one. ”Male fertility is much more vulnerable than you might think,” reads a third, with a picture of a decaying banana peel. 
 
 Another image reads, “Young parents. The best way to be creative.” But as many on Twitter have pointed out, Italy’s youth unemployment rate last year was a staggering 42%—which hardly makes creating dependents seem like the best way to be creative. 
 
 The #FertilityDay campaign includes an online game, which Vice Italia compared to Space Invaders, and a website, from which most content has since been removed. 
 
 (The tweet above reads: The site has been closed. Its content was sterile.) 
 
 Author Roberto Saviano described the campaign as “an insult to all: Those who are not able to conceive, and to those who would like to, but do not have jobs.” Others responded to the campaign with humor: 
 
 According to the Health Ministry website, #FertilityDay is intended to remind Italians of the danger of falling birthrates, the “beauty” of parenthood, and eventual illnesses that could prevent parenthood. The campaign also seeks to raise awareness of medications available for parents who have not been able to conceive. It’s just one part of Italy’s national plan for fertility (Italian), which also includes financial incentives for parenthood. 
 
 Low birthrates have long concerned governments across Europe. As Quartz reported earlier this year: 
 
 The average fertility rate in the EU was 2.4 children per woman in 1970, but dropped to 1.5 in 2013, according to the OECD. The OECD says a rate of 2.1 is required to ensure a stable population, so rates below this are bad for countries with aging populations, generous social services, and sclerotic economies. (In other words, for Italy.) 
 
 But for women, a state’s emphasis on maternity can rub the wrong way. Italy has long offered a generous paid maternity leave, but Italian women who work still battle entrenched prejudices that can make motherhood financially precarious. In a phenomenon known as dimissioni in bianco, hundreds of thousands of Italian women have been asked to sign undated letters of resignation, so that employers can fire them without penalty, in case of pregnancy. At the same time, access to abortion is legally guaranteed, but the procedure can be complicated to obtain in practice. 
 
 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrL9rvVXgAAgNjc.jpg 
 
 As blogger Giulia Biasi writes on Medium: 
 
 What this campaign hides is the complete inability of the government to tackle the declining birth rate and subsequent decrease of cash flow towards the country’s already severely depleted public welfare. If women choose not to have children — for personal or financial reasons, or both — who is going to pay the insane amount of taxes required to keep the system working? Not the children of immigrants, who are not awarded automatic citizenship even if born and raised on Italian soil. It falls to Italian women to repopulate Italy, fulfilling their biological destiny and doing their patriotic duty. 
 
 In other words, plenty of Italian women already know that low birthrates are a problem for the current system. They just don’t think it’s their problem to solve. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Claudio Lavanga 
 
 Fertility Day was aimed at helping Italians "get busy" to boost the country's record-low birthrate, but the nationwide drive culminating Thursday delivered little more than controversy. 
 
 The first signs of fertility furor surrounded an ad campaign launched ahead of events exploring reproductive health that sparked allegations of sexism and racism. 
 
 Ad put out by Italy's Health Ministry promoting Fertility Day. Ministero della salute via Twitter 
 
 The Health Ministry posted tweets in August showing a young woman holding an hourglass under the slogan “Beauty knows no age, fertility does.” Another warned: “Hurry up! Don’t wait for the stork.” 
 
 The posts and pamphlets drew scorn and condemnation on social media, with critics saying people needed help finding work — not boosting their fertility. 
 
 "According to Italy’s survey agency, women dream of having two children, but only give birth to 1.3 on average. They need work and help to families," leading newspaper La Stampa wrote in a front-page story. 
 
 Instead of backtracking, Italy's Health Ministry published another pamphlet with two images on its cover. One showed two smiling white couples on the seaside under the slogan: "Good habits to promote." 
 
 The second photo showed a white woman sitting with a drinking black man and a black woman appearing to smoke a marijuana. The accompanying slogan read: "Bad company to leave behind." 
 
 Users soon began to post messages under #fertilityfake as well as the official hashtag #fertilityday. 
 
 At first the ministry was unrepentant, defending the campaign and saying on its website that "racism is in the eye of the beholder." It later withdrew and pamphlet and removed the employee responsible for it. 
 
 That did little to stem the backlash, which continued right up through Thursday's events. Protesters turned out with signs saying they were "expecting" jobs and salaries, not babies. 
 
 A protester holds a sign reading 'I am expecting income!' on Thursday. GIUSEPPE LAMI / EPA 
 
 While perhaps bungled, there are reasons behind government's effort at boosting fertility. 
 
 Recent statistics show Italy has the European Union's lowest birthrate, with eight babies born for every 1,000 residents. One couple out of five has difficulties in conceiving naturally, according to the Italian Ministry of Health. ||||| ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s prime minister on Thursday poured cold water on a campaign promoted by his health minister aimed at convincing couples to have more children. 
 
 Italy's Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin gestures during a news conference at the end of a cabinet meeting in Rome, Italy, February 28, 2014. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo 
 
 “I don’t know of any of my friends who had kids after they saw an advertisement,” Matteo Renzi said in a radio interview. 
 
 He was speaking a day after the ministry announced it would host meetings in four cities to encourage couples to have children. Italy has an aging population and the fertility rate in Italy last year was 1.35 children per woman, compared with an EU average of 1.6. 
 
 In 2015, fewer babies were born in Italy than in any year since the modern state was founded 154 years ago, and the population shrank for the first time in three decades. 
 
 “If you want to create a society that invests in its future and has children, you have to make sure the underlying conditions are there,” such as making sure the parents have stable jobs and day-care services, Renzi said. 
 
 Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin launched the campaign on Wednesday with the @FertilityDay Twitter handle and a series of online ads. 
 
 One pictured a woman holding an hourglass next to the words: “Beauty has no age limit. Fertility does.” Another pictured a man holding a half-burned cigarette. “Don’t let your sperm go up in smoke,” it said. 
 
 The Fertility Day campaign also set off criticism on social media for appearing to blame women for putting off child-bearing, and for appearing not to understand the real causes for Italy’s low birth rate. 
 
 “Before bringing children into the world, women responsibly consider the future,” lawmakers from the opposition 5-Star Movement said in a statement. “There’s no work. People aren’t having kids because it’s not possible.” 
 
 Lorenzin is a member of a centrist bloc, considered close to the Catholic Church, that is allied with Renzi’s Democratic Party. 
 
 The cities of Rome, Padua, Bologna and Catania will hold public meetings on Sept. 22 - or Fertility Day - where “Fertility Villages” will be set up to host experts, associations and scientific companies who will offer advice and screening.
– "Racism is in the eye of the beholder," according to Italy's Health Ministry—and an awful lot of people are beholding just that in ads the ministry sent out to promote a national push for procreation. NBC News reports on the country's much-ballyhooed Fertility Day, an event taking place Thursday that the government hopes will boost the country's flagging birthrate, said to be the lowest in the EU. Events planned in cities around Italy (including Rome) on Fertility Day will include state-sponsored events where locals will be bombarded with baby-friendly propaganda about family planning, specifically about expanding families, per Quartz. The ads around the hot-and-heavy holiday are not only attracting claims of racism, but of sexism, too, with Fortune earlier this month calling the campaign "a sexist mess," while Quartz labeled it "an embarrassing misstep." The campaign kicked off in August, featuring a series of promos that some say are nothing more than fertility fear-mongering. One of the ads shows a woman holding an hourglass with the caption "Beauty has no age. Fertility does." And a pamphlet shows two cheerful white couples with the caption "Good habits to promote," while the caption "Bad company to leave behind" is accompanied by a photo of a black woman apparently smoking pot, while a white woman hangs out with a black man who's drinking. Critics say a) the low birthrate isn't women's problem, and b) the country isn't addressing unemployment, the real reason many people are choosing not to have kids. Even Italy's prime minister is shaking his head. "I don't know of any of my friends who had kids after they saw an [ad]," Matteo Renzi said in an early September radio interview, per Reuters. (If you do want to have a baby, though: Chill.)