Insight:
In spite of 40 years of education about HIV, the stigma around the disease remains as prevalent today as ever, mainly because of misunderstandings around transmission. This stigma keeps a large number of people with HIV from disclosing their status, leading to loneliness, isolation, and mental health issues.

A survey that Bensimon Byrne and its sister agencies Narrative and OneMethod conducted found 65 million North Americans feel they would be shunned by friends, family, and co-workers if they revealed they were HIV+. This stark reality is vastly underrepresented in popular culture: there has never been a mainstream television program that has tackled HIV stigma.

Execution:
As one of the largest purpose-built HIV/AIDS hospitals in the world, Casey House wanted to continue its multi-year campaign to smash stigma, educate about transmission, and help people relate to the experience of living with HIV. The agencies had to show the devastating effects of stigma in a way that would make people take notice. So they used beloved characters from Friends and The Office, two of the most streamed shows on earth.

They searched 236 episodes of Friends and 203 episodes of The Office to find scenes that could be re-edited and reordered to create the unthinkable: HIV+ Episodes, New episodes where iconic TV characters are HIV+ and facing the isolation of stigma. The team hired voice impersonators from across North America to replace dialogue, and lookalikes for each actor, so they could swap voices and faces using innovative post-production.

The organization launched “Losing Friends” and “The Toxic Office” worldwide on SmashStigma.ca and with a private media screening featuring a panel of HIV+ influencers discussing the impact of stigma in their lives. The agencies drove traffic to the site through social, mass, and earned media. To show the episode was more than fiction, HIV+ influencers bravely shared their stories on the website, bringing a personal and human viewpoint to HIV stigma.

Result:
The launch became a global conversation within 24 hours – with over 200 stories, 10 million social impressions, and 200 million media impressions within the first day of launch. And most impressive, after viewing our episodes, 88% of people felt more empathetic to those who live with HIV.

Credits
Client: Casey House
Campaign: HIV+ Episodes
Agency: Bensimon Byrne
Digital Agency: OneMethod

HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was, but HIV stigma lives on. Myths persist about how the disease is spread—through saliva, food, and drink. When polled, 50% of Canadians said they wouldn’t knowingly eat a meal prepared by someone with HIV.
 
 

Casey House wanted to challenge this ignorance with truth and compassion. And so the idea for a pop-up restaurant was born: June’s, the first-ever HIV-positive eatery. 14 people with HIV became something more than just their disease—they became chefs. For three nights, they chopped, sliced, and sautéed under the watchful eye of head chef Matt Basile. Together, they invited patrons to smash stigma by breaking bread and swallow the prejudice condemning so many HIV-positive people to suffer in silence.

Credits
Client: Casey House
Campaign: Break Bread Smash Stigma
Advertising Agency: Bensimon Byrne
Category: Public Interest, NGO
Production Company: Button Factory
Medium: Experiential advertising
Tags: HIV, AIDS, Stigma, Public Health Agency, Canada, Toronto, June’s Eatery

#Seemeasiam #TransDayOfVisibility #TDOV2021.

About UNAIDS
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO, and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Credits
Advertiser: UNAIDS
Campaign: The Mirror
Agency: FCB India
Chief Creative Officer: Swati Bhattacharya
Account Management: Vishakha Khatri
Account Planning: Kizie Basu
Creative Team: Gia Fernandes, Anusheela Saha
Digital Team: Vinesh Nandikhol, Roshan Shetty, Giamaria Fernandes, Aabhaas Worah,
Nikhil Fernandes, Ponnada Kulteja, Sukrit Sharma
Director: Shashank Chaturvedi
Producer: Robin D’Cruz
Singer: Sikander Kha

Every year December 1 is observed as World AIDS Day to raise awareness and knowledge about HIV and a call to move towards ending the HIV epidemic. It’s an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness.

India’s largest condom selling brand, Manforce Condoms has come up with a new campaign #StandTogether, urging people to protect India against HIV. As a leading brand in the industry, Manforce, through this campaign focuses on a broader responsibility of educating people to use condoms, no matter what brand you use.

The campaign highlights the importance of using condoms to fight against HIV and at the same time, communicates that the brand doesn’t matter. The most important is the health and safety of everyone and addresses the relevant issues related to safe sex with an appeal to enthusiastic lovers to have protected sex.
In India, people are either shy or are not aware enough about the use and importance of protection to stay away from AIDS. It is important to have conversations on sex education in schools to conversations at home. Society should never step back with the fact that condoms play a crucial role in the industry and understand the safety side of it instead of being shy.

Joy Chatterjee, DGM, Mankind Pharma said, “Through this campaign, the intention is to show that we are committed towards our customer’s safety and want to ensure that sex always stays as an act of pleasure, along with safety. We want to communicate to the masses to “Use A Condom” to avoid AIDS. When it comes to a physical relationship, safety plays an essential role in strengthening the bond between partners”.

Sex causes a whirlwind of emotions that can take anyone to the universe of happiness, relaxation and contentment. Though sex is the most delightful feeling, it may also open the gates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) without posing any warning. BE SAFE!

This campaign is about:
Best Awareness campaign, Public interest campaign, AIDS Campaign

Tags:
Print Advert, Print Campaign, HIV, AIDS, Awareness Campaign

Idea:
In today’s prevalent hook up culture, millennials often take the consequences of unprotected sex very lightly.
They take the conversation to the most relevant channels where they look for casual sex i.e Dating apps

Introducing Durex Verified- a verified badge which lets the other user know that the durex verified person believes in safe sex and is a condom user. Thus swiping the risks of STDs/STIs away.

Credits
Advertising School: Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai, India
Art Director / Copywriter: Ria Jatakia

What’s the best way to show that AIDS does not spread with touch? Have someone with AIDS offer you a free coffee. Can you refuse that?

Advertiser: AIDS Concern Hong Kong

Brand: Durex India