Glam Reaper returns
ACON launched the second wave of its Glam Reaper campaign this week, just in time for Sleaze Ball.
ACON CEO Stevie Clayton said while the original campaign had a profound impact on creating awareness of HIV, it also came out at a time when we knew little about the disease.
HIV campaigns have evolved significantly since then as has our understanding of HIV and the communities affected by HIV, she said. We now know that gay men and people with HIV are not the problem -” they are part of the solution.
This campaign uses humour to help people understand that while our knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV have come a long way, some things have stayed the same.
info: View the Glam Reaper video on our website, www.starobserver.com.au.
Peter…your post says more about you ( and perhaps ACON ) than any thing else..and you have failed on the most basic credential for being taken seriously..assumption…1`.you assume I know Shayne (I don’t , I have never had the pleasure of meeting the man )2…I drink alcohol ( I don’t )..3. I smoke ciggies ( I don’t smoke )..4.I don’t have a job ( I do , full time and very challenging )
I could assume your wage is paid by ACON (but I don’t )hence your rush to defend them at all cost ( but I don’t). Assumption is a very dangerous proposition Peter, like assuming that ACON that has a monopoly on all wisdom in matters relating to HIV prevention. With rampant and institutionalised unsafe sex in our community ( especially amongst young guys )it is clear ACON’s soft politically correct approach is not working and we are doomed to repeat the horrors of the past.
Same tired comments from the same old queens. Honestly, it wouldn’t matter if ACON found a cure for HIV, Shayne wouldn’t be satisfied.
Just like his selective interpretation of ACON’s annual report, here we have another deliberate misinterpretation of intention.
Shayne, put aside your personal gripes for a second – yes, we have all seen them posted on these kinds of sites a million times – and start applying a subjective view to campaigns like these.
The message, quite obviously, is that the more things change the more they stay the same. And that means constant vigilance when it comes to protecting yourself from HIV.
A campaign based on fear will do nothing more than continue to marginalise the community from the rest of society – and that goes against everything we have been trying to achieve.
And Chris, those nasty pictures on cigarette packs have already been proven pretty useless (“I’ll have the pack with the baby on it thanks, i’m never going to have a baby”) – so not sure where you are drawing data from. Though I could hazzard a guess, you and Shayne were chatting about them over a beer and a ciggie one day as you continued looking for more creative ways to discredit ACON.
Please ……. find a job or something better to do with your time. This is getting old and tired now.
I agree with Shayne…”While it may not have been as much fun as trolling the gay ghetto for icons, I suspect that acon taking their vidcam into the HIV hospital wards or visiting some of CSN’s clients for example, might have been a more effective deterrent. And that is the purpose of an HIV campaign, isn’t it?”
I have for years believed that a ‘fear based ‘hiv prevention campaign is the way to go. Watching ” the walking dead ” shuffling down Oxford street or visiting much loved friends wasting away in ward 17 south at St Vincents or the hospice scared the shit out of me when I was a young gay man and this I believe has kept me hiv negative for the last 25 years . It may not be the politically correct way to go but it works ! The ghastly photos on cigarette packets and graphic tv ads of horrible smoking related disease are the most successful anti smoking campaign ever.The same approach should be applied to hiv prevention campaigns instead of the lame ” gay wallpaper ads ” ACON has been running for years.
No wonder there is so much unsafe sex going on in our community.
Well said, Shayne.
Ollie, I don’t know where you get ‘defensive’ from, and while we certainly all have an end to our days, we may not wish to hasten that date through a laissez faire attitude or a cultivated ignorance to risk taking. And anyway, death is not the worse thing that so many suffering from HIV-associated conditions are facing. The ‘Grim Reaper’ didn’t encourage celibacy, but safe sex – using a condom or doing something other than anal, and not sharing needles. Promiscuity has no relevance to the safe sex message either, so long as you whack on a new johnny every time, if you are doing anal. A time when HIV infection rates are rising may not be a good time for ‘relaxing things’ either; but apart from all that, I completely agree with you.
While it may not have been as much fun as trolling the gay ghetto for icons, I suspect that acon taking their vidcam into the HIV hospital wards or visiting some of CSN’s clients for example, might have been a more effective deterrent. And that is the purpose of an HIV campaign, isn’t it?
Darlings, before you become so defensive. We as humans do have an expiry date eventually! The Grim Reaper scared people into staying celibate whereas the Glam Reaper wants to just relax things a little. Then, its up to the individual to know the risks when being promiscuous.
I think the “Glam Reaper” concept is a bad idea and the ad design reflects that. Too abstract. Overemphasises pop culture to the detriment of the public health message. Niche appeal and unlikely to be meaningful and relevant to MSMs outside of the inner city gay scene.
Shayne..you are right on the point!!. ACON you have lost the plot!!!. ACON’S series of” pussy footing gay wallpaper adds” about HIV and AIDS over the last ten years which totally sidestep the horrendous results of having unsafe sex have now taken us to this , the “Glam reaper ” campaign. No wonder there is so much unsafe sex going on in our community .No wonder a lot of young guys think if they acquire HIV it is no big deal! I know of several young guys who go on PEP as often as I have my teeth cleaned .( twice a year )
GD.. ” The Producers ” is about as funny as Mel Brook’s fart jokes. It obviously tickled your fanny , just as the inclusion of an out of touch drag queen rolling a mirror ball in this campaign does , hence your reference to pearl clutching . ( for gods sake its 2008 lose the drag queens and consign them to the RSL clubs where they can find an appreciative audience.They are an anachronism and an embarrassment to our community )
HIV and AIDS are no laughing matter , it obviously is for GD and Oliver , they would no doubt get a laugh out of a comedy about Cancer aimed at people who are living with or who are in remission from cancer or how about a really funny cartoon about what a laugh it is to have multiple scelerosis!
The people behind this campaign at ACON should be sacked.
Chris, promise me you’ll never get “The Producers” out on DVD. It actually finds humour in Adolf Hitler and your pearl clutching while viewing could lead to serious shortness of breath. And how exactly does a condom reinforcement campaign ” glamourise” HIV?
As for this sanctimonious bullshit about, “humour having no connection with HIV,” get out of here. Black humour has been a mainstay of gay men’s response to the epidemic. I don’t know of one guy that I buried back in the bad old days of the 80’s and 90’s who would have wanted to be remembered in prissy, pious, sepulchral silence.
I never thought I’d say this but, Oliver – you may actually have a point.
Its always taken too seriously! All Mitzis trying to do is bring some smiles and humour.
Why does the targeting of acon’s campaigns always remind me of quail hunting with Dick Cheney?
What does this campaign tell us about HIV except perhaps, that it’s apparently a lot of fun. Where are the warnings about HIV’s association with many other life threatening complications like Pneumocystis Pneumonia, Mycobacterial Infections, Cytomegalovirus, Pulmonary Neoplasms, Lymphoma and other cancers, Lung Carcinoma etc. etc? Not to mention the possibility of of losing your energy/libido/job/looks/partner etc., and becoming welfare dependent. Why this insistence on painting HIV as a glam picnic? Where is the prophylactic education?
Tsk acon, you couldn’t organise a drug deal in the Cross.
oliver…as always out of touch
Humour and aids…yeah a great laugh!
death or cronic illness is always good for joke.
Cheer up, Mitzi is only using humour.
Glamorizing HIV/AIDS… really ACON, are you THAT out of touch?
I find the ‘Glam Reaper’ REALLY offensive!! It trivialises a terrible and sad time in many 40 plus gay men’s lives ..it is an insult to all those great people we lost to AIDS when their was no hope .It opens old wounds And makes light of a time when many of us lost most of our friends .. it is not funny,
ACON hang your heads in shame..who ever thought and ok ed this campaign should be sacked.It is about as funny as a musical about Auchwitz would be to a holocaust surviver. ACON GET RID OF IT!!