A campaign from Germany for World Aids Day has been released which features women having sex with a series of dictators including Hitler.
The ads have been widely condemned by Aids organizations, and I’m not really surprised!
The TV ad carries the strapline "Aids is mass murder", and sees a woman having pretty steamy sex with a man, who, at the end of the 45-second spot, turns to the camera and his face appears to be that of Adolf Hitler. (The vid was on youtube but appears to have been pulled, I don’t really want to search for it as it’s pretty shocking, but I’m sure it’s still out there somewhere!) The campaign’s posters carry the same strapline and feature a woman in a sensual pose with other dictators like Stalin and Saddam Hussein.
The German charity behind the film says Aids has killed 30 million people worldwide, and it wants to shake people up by linking Aids with mass murder. They also claimed the ads were highlighting that the ‘face of illness is an unattractive one in the bids to highlight the dangers of unprotected sex.
But other HIV charities like the Terrence Higgins Trust are concerned that the ads could be seen as insensitive and stigmatizing to people with the condition; they themselves could be associated with Hitler. I agree with this; it’s basically saying to people that those with Aids are evil and its almost warning others to keep away. It’ll also discourage people from going to get tested for the disease.
The ads have been further scrutinized as they don’t appear to carry any public health messages e.g. to use a condrom and stay safe; kind of worsens the whole stigmatization really doesn’t it?!
The creative director of the ad agency behind the campaign, Das Committee, claimed that the campaign was designed to shake people up and bring the topic of Aids back to centre stage and reverse the trend of unprotected sex. I think it has definitely done the former; these ads have got people talking, but its not really done it in the most sensitive and thoughtful of ways.
Plus, don’t even get me started on how many people touched by the holocaust etc will react to seeing the face of one of the most evil men in history, related to a disease that their close ones may suffer from. Talk about salt in the wounds.
The German charity behind the film says Aids has killed 30 million people worldwide, and it wants to shake people up by linking Aids with mass murder. They also claimed the ads were highlighting that the ‘face of illness is an unattractive one in the bids to highlight the dangers of unprotected sex.
But other HIV charities like the Terrence Higgins Trust are concerned that the ads could be seen as insensitive and stigmatizing to people with the condition; they themselves could be associated with Hitler. I agree with this; it’s basically saying to people that those with Aids are evil and its almost warning others to keep away. It’ll also discourage people from going to get tested for the disease.
The ads have been further scrutinized as they don’t appear to carry any public health messages e.g. to use a condrom and stay safe; kind of worsens the whole stigmatization really doesn’t it?!
The creative director of the ad agency behind the campaign, Das Committee, claimed that the campaign was designed to shake people up and bring the topic of Aids back to centre stage and reverse the trend of unprotected sex. I think it has definitely done the former; these ads have got people talking, but its not really done it in the most sensitive and thoughtful of ways.
Plus, don’t even get me started on how many people touched by the holocaust etc will react to seeing the face of one of the most evil men in history, related to a disease that their close ones may suffer from. Talk about salt in the wounds.
Really quite disgusting…
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