TBWA\Paris created its first campaign for the fight against AIDS in 2003. By then, Aids had devastated so much of Africa that the average life expectancy of an African was just 47 years. And it was this fact that was the focus of the commercial, that opens on a scene of panic. African villagers run in panic and shut themselves indoors. What horror could this be? A storm? No, it’s an old man who has become such an endangered species that he invokes fear in his community. The ad was shown at the Nelson Mandela Aids Benefit in Cape Town just before it went to air in France and French-speaking parts of Africa.
French AIDs organisation, AIDES, has been struggling to gain control of the AIDS epidemic since 1984. In November 2006, it succeeded in getting the French government to make 10 million cut-priced condoms available in high schools, night clubs, cinemas and hospitals to try to combat the spread of HIV-AIDS in France. It had convinced health minister, Xavier Bertrand that a vital task was to ensure safe-sex became “a reflex”, so the condoms went on sale for 20 euro cents in 20,000 outlets from early 2007.
Condom use has been the focus of its awareness campaigns through TBWA|Paris since then. Last year’s was built around the confronting film, Woody.
This year’s campaign has a lighter tone, but an even less compromising attitude. Essentially, the message is No condom. No sex. Yes, we’ve all heard it. But with a splash of creative thinking and a dab of humour, TBWA\Paris has given the battle cry a fresh and sharper edge, in 4 little films:
You might also like
