“Hello everyone. I am HInVisible Celebrity.

“As you can see, I live pixelated, I am invisible. I represent many people with HIV who cannot come forward and say publicly ‘I have HIV’. Especially those public people who telling would help normalise HIV and break the taboo.

“I am here to make society reflect on something you may not have realized. At this moment, there is no celebrity, politician, singer or footballer, actress, sportswoman, or famous person that has publicly said they have HIV in Spain. None. Zero. In 40 years. Do you wonder why?

“Because of the stigma.”

This is how the protagonist of Sra. Rushmore’s campaign for ViiV Healthcare Spain in collaboration with GESIDA, SEISIDA, Apoyo Positivo and CESIDA aims to break down the stigmas associated with HIV in the framework of World AIDS Day, which was celebrated on 1 December.

There are 150,000 people with HIV in Spain (1 in 300), Why don’t the Spanish know anyone with HIV?

The HInVisible Celebrity campaign aims to highlight the importance of having public figures who make the diagnosis visible and normalise the conversation about the myths and prejudices surrounding HIV. HInVisible Celebrity also aims to raise awareness and reduce social stigma, allowing people living with HIV to be visible without fear of discrimination in the workplace or in social settings. The campaign highlights the need to challenge existing prejudices and foster a more informed, empathetic and engaged society.

“When talking to people living with HIV, we discovered the absence of visible public figures to help destigmatise and break down prejudice. On issues such as mental health, addictions or cancer, there are well-known personalities who openly address the conversation, but in the case of HIV, this is not the case. It’s hard, isn’t it? Why? We’ve never really thought about it before. However, role models are the shortcut to putting HIV at the center of social dialogue and moving forward as a society,” explained Munia Bilbao and Pablo Cattáneo, creative directors of the campaign.

And so, HInVisible Celebrity, the protagonist who gives his name to this campaign. He deals with the difficulties that public people with HIV must make themselves visible and the need they have to break their silence by sharing their reality, but the fear of social rejection prevents them from doing so. It is presented to society in a pixelated, non-visible way, as a reminder that claims the absence of visible referents in our country. Through his testimony, HInVisible Celebrity dismantles myths and prejudices, highlighting that, despite being an empathetic society, having HIV is still a taboo and an object of social rejection.

The HInVisible Celebrity intervention has been created by costume designer, Pepo Ruíz Dorado, using an artisanal technique of pixelated 3D modelling, done manually, pixel by pixel.

The campaign, directed by Rodrigo García Saiz, and produced by Central Films Spain and Freelance For, with executive production by Flor R. Veidez and Raúl García, includes an audiovisual piece, social media activations and an Instagram profile that tells the day-to-day life of @FamosoInVIHsible.