Pregnant Schoolgirl Mannequins Cause Uproar in Venezuela [Photo]

Many people think that mannequins should look more realistic, but Fox News Latino reported that a storefront in Caracas Mall in Venezuela took it to the next level with their pregnant schoolgirls on the display window.

The store itself is not the perpetrator of such shocking display however. In fact, two charity groups are behind the display: Friends of Children Who Deserve Protection (or FUNDANA in its Spanish acronym) and Building Futures, or Construyendo Futuros. Their aim: to raise awareness of teenage pregnancy in Venezuela.

It seems that their form of campaign worked: shoppers have gasped and gathered around the display of three pregnant mannequins dressed in schoolgirl uniforms and in backpacks. Behind them, is a banner promoting a back-to-school clothing line.

The article said that Venezuela is among the South American countries with the highest teenage pregnancy rates, and for FUNDANA and Construyendo Futuros, it is time to make people aware of it.

Construyendo Futuros president Thalma Cohen told Reuters, "This is such a taboo subject in Venezuela, we want people to talk about it."

The campaign successfully grabbed the people's attention and people have been talking with mixed reactions on the issue. Cohen added that, "Some people get angry and complain. Others congratulate us."

An 18-year-old student, Kelly Hernandez, told the website, "I think it's horrible, awful. If I was a mother, I wouldn't want my child to see that."

However, her 20-year-old friend, Auriselva Torrealba agrees with the campaign and is more sympathetic to the cause, saying, "Yes, it's disturbing to see in a window. But it's the truth. You see pregnant girls all the time on the streets. So this forces you to think about the problem, doesn't it?"

The campaign, which will run for a month and could possibly be extended to other malls, came days after the women's rights watchdog from the United Nations expressed "deep concern" about the high number of teenage pregnancies and maternal mortality in Venezuela. The latest data reports that the country had an adolescent birth rate of 101 per 1,000 women between ages 15 and 19, making it one of the highest in Latin America and 2010.

On the other hand, teenage pregnancies have been declining in the United States for the last 20 years, from 61.8 births for every 1,000 adolescent females, to 21.6 in 2013. Despite the significant decline, however, the US teen birthrate, according to Yahoo! is still higher than many developed countries like, Canada and the United Kingdom.

What do you think of the campaign from the Venezuelan organizations, is it effective or just plain scandalous?