ACON goes bananas for safe-sex
If a hot man with a banana approaches you this weekend at Sleaze, don’t be alarmed, or think there’s a new fetish sub-group — it is all part of ACON’s fresh look sex-education campaign.
The Slip it On campaign, launched yesterday morning at Martin Place, aims to promote condom use with fun Andy Warhol-inspired logos applied to a range of fashion products, as well as appearing in the usual poster format.
International sportswear label teamm8 has already adapted the logo, designed by local creative agency Frost Design, into a range of products, and other high-profile brands are lined up to come on board as the campaign progresses.
“We always need to reinvent our safe-sex messages to ensure they remain relevant, engaging and effective,” ACON CEO Stevie Clayton said.
“One of the key strategies for HIV prevention is developing and maintaining a culture that supports safe sex. This is particularly important for young gay men who may not be familiar with the risks of unprotected sex or who perceive condoms as lacking in cool factor.
“With this campaign we’re trying to make condom use more appealing and get that message into gay men’s homes by cross-promoting safe sex with popular and fashionable brands.”
Teamm8 will have models attending this weekend’s Sleaze Ball and the Bananas in Cabanas pool party at The Ivy, handing out bananas and condoms.
Slezae revellers will be able to get involved with the campaign by having their photos taken with a banana at the official Slip It On photo booth.
info: These images, along with important safe-sex information and other promotional material will all be featured at the campaign website: www.acondom.org
Pretty boys handing out condoms to tourists and seniors in Martin Place. What a joke!
Other NGOs run successful hard hitting campaigns that make an impact. Why do we not expect the same from ACON?
Just look at the QUIT campaign that in a decade has transformed smoking from a “cool” pastime to a social stigma and significantly altered community attitudes.
I think HIV awareness campaigns could be more hard hitting, realistic and direct about what sort of life a person risks having ifd they contract HIV. without being melodramtatic (much like current ads showing emphysema
Some of the things to contemplate when barebacking might be that, as the last HIV Futures (#5) study showed:
*Around one half live on a government pension or benefit as their main source of income. Slightly fewer receive a salary.
*The median weekly in-hand income for respondents was $400.
*There are financial hardships associated with being HIV positive. Some of these are structural and systemic, for example the costs associated with managing the negative consequences of treatment, some result from stigma and disadvantage that result from reduced employment options, while others are the cumulative effects of living for many years with uncertain or fluctuating health and well being.
*People receiving a pension may undergo an assessment by a Commonwealth Medical Officer. A total of 35.9% (n=296) of those receiving a benefit in the last two years had received such an assessment. The experience of assessment resulted in distress for two thirds of the respondents while it clarified concerns for less than one in five.
*Discrimination: PLWHA continue to experience less favourable treatment in many domains of their lives. While more detailed research is needed to adequately assess the specific impact of this treatment, we can reasonably imagine that the impact goes beyond the direct outcomes of the actions and is detrimental to both health and quality of life.
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/hiv-futures/publications.html
No banana daiquiris for these guys.
I like this campaign … I feel it is positive and light-hearted and introduces the topic of condoms in a sunny way, rather than a fear based gloomy, burdensome way. I feel it will make me look forward to condoms and using them. the launch photos are also great as they connect sexy guys to condom use, and give the message that it’s cool to use condoms … in a lot of these past campaigns we don’t see real people in the ads (just like other advertising sometimes we buy the way of life instead of the product, so if we see a sexy guy using it, we say “I want to be part of that” or “I want to be him” or “I want to be doin him”. Other past campaigns I am talking about that didn’t feature people are the up-turned question mark.)
ACON:
PS I think to spread your message further, ACON, you should make a gallery where we can view/download those photos of the launch in Martin Place easily (they have been posted in a small size on another website, but you can’t download them as they are flash). This would help to spread your message because people might use them as desktop pictures and screensavers.
It’s time hard-hitting campaigns made a comeback. Dismissing these as ‘fear-based’ is a cop out – certain things are fear-invoking, but we still need to know about them – People travelling to a place with an earthquake or tsunami forecast want and deserve to be made aware of what risks their journey presents. Media coverage of these events and forecasts is not accused by the tourism industry of being ‘alarmist’ – it is serving its proper purpose.
Brendan, thank you for taking the time to reply to my comments. I respect your opinion and the resonable and intelligent manner in which you enter into debate on these forums. I would, however like to address some of the points you have raised.
My comments are genuine and are not part of ” the usual predisposed whinge against anything involving ACON.”
I have long been a supporter of ACON . I first worked as a volunteer for ACON in 1988 building their Mardi Gras float which was a 20 ft high lifesaver which rolled up oxford st promoting condom use and safe sex with the theme
” condoms are lifesavers”.
You say that safe sex is all about STIS including hiv..yes it is but it is really about the life threatening infection hiv… without trivialising herpes, clamidiya, and
the other nasties they are treatable and easily managable..hiv continues to kill…some people do not test and do not even know what their status is.. others fail on treatments and we do not even know what the negative long term effects of being on anti retroviral medications may be .
I really hope the banana in a condom campaign works but i fear it will just be pretty decorative ‘ white noise ‘which
dumbs down entirely the continuing reality that hiv /aids
destroys lives , does kill and at best leads to a life of chronic illness…nothing fun and funky about that i’m afraid .
Chris, I’m unaware of the factual basis of your assertions about “more effective” and “proven”. But I do admire your absolute confidence that the State government’s bland, brief and impersonal advert would be superior at gaining attention and effecting risk-reductive behaviour amongst younger folk in particular.
I think a general insistence upon fear-based campaigns in isolation and to the exclusion of all others would be foolishly inadequate. These days, the targets of the message may desensitize to such shock tactics fairly quickly while in the broader community it can give rise to adverse social side-effects. We’ve seen only this week how the Red Cross discriminated against a carer of a HIV+ man due to staff ignorance (https://starobserver.com.au/news/2009/09/29/new-red-cross-insult/16702). How might overreaching HIV fear campaigns stoke that ignorance further? With gay and lesbian people up to 14 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts and more likely to perform acts of self-harm (https://starobserver.com.au/news/2009/09/29/struggle-to-meet-mental-health-demand/16674), how might a poorly constructed HIV fear campaign exacerbate this and isolate people further (particular the recently exposed or diagnosed at high risk of self-harm)?
I appreciate that you’ve had your life experiences and can comment on what you feel worked for you. That was a different time in different cirmstances. It cannot be simply assumed that a radical step which worked more than a decade ago (but also had its down sides) will be a magic ‘silver bullet’ solution now. We should also not invest excessive faith in advertising campaigns alone, whatever they might be. Whatever the answer — and I don’t think there is one simple answer, that’s the point — I simply don’t agree that scaring the sh*t out of people is the only way (nor necessarily the most effective or best way).
Brendan ..i looked at the ad you refered to — it is much more effective than the gay wallpaper banana in a condom ad by ACON…it demonstates in a clear and concise way that when you have unprotected sex with one person you are potentially having unprotected sex with countless others with all the resultant risks.
I know it is not PC ( But who gives a flying F***K if it prevents people from contracting HIV)…but ACON should be running a fear based campaign – they are proven to work. As a middle aged hiv neg gay male who has had plenty of safe sex with positive and negative partners over 25 years it is the fear based campaigns of the mid 80’s which has kept me and many of my peers safe sex compliant and negative.
A condom on a banana…please! It may as well be a banana in pajamas !
I disagree that it trivialises HIV. I also think it is hyperbole to claim that the campaign will “cost lives”. That sounds a lot like the usual predisposed whinge against anything involving ACON.
Safe sex is about all STIs, including HIV. This is clearly intended as a broad campaign with broad appeal. It uses high visual recognition and pop culture to promote safer sex in a positive way. It makes sense to use a variety of messages, one of which includes (as this does) promoting safer sex as the choice of lesser grief without being bleak about sex itself or those who engage in it.
Compare and contrast to the ads by the NSW Government:
‘Teens warned on safe sex as infections rise’ (SMH, April 2009)
http://www.smh.com.au/national/teens-warned-on-safe-sex-as-infections-rise-20090829-f3a5.html
ACON has done it again! Slipping a condom on a banana- it would be a joke if it wasn’t going to cost lives- back to what ACON does best- Gay wallpaper ads trivialising hiv infection and Aids.