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PHILLY PULLS CONTROVERSIAL HIV ADS: PSAs urging HIV testing depict young black men in a gun’s crosshairs.
*A Philadelphia-based marketing campaign thought it was making a bold statement about the importance of HIV testing by developing ads depicting young black men in the crosshairs of a gun.
It may have served as a political statement for rap group Public Enemy, who adopted a similar image as its logo, but the concept did not go over well for the HIV awareness campaign, which has since been pulled amidst outrage by a gay advocacy group, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"Putting the face of a black man in the crosshairs of a gun paints a damaging message about violence and black men," wrote Lee Carson, chairman of the Black Gay Men's Leadership Council, in a letter to the city's interim health commissioner Carmen Paris. "Given the violence perpetrated against gay men, it is not farfetched to see how this campaign fosters violence."
The $236,000 campaign, geared at gay and bisexual men, included the tagline, "Have YOU been hit?"
According to the newspaper, Paris said that she "inherited" the campaign and only recently saw the ads. She added, "The right thing to do, of course, is not to promote any message that could be perceived as promoting violence."
The campaign premiered May 19 with ads on buses, television, postcards and a Web site, http://www.dontguess.org. The ads were taken down from the Web site earlier this week.
Zigzag Net Inc., the marketing company behind the campaign, said the idea for the campaign followed months of research involving two focus groups, which helped to evaluate the most effective themes.
"We are aware of objections to the campaign," project manager Aaron McLean said. "However, we acted under the explicit direction of the city Health Department. The response in the focus groups was very positive."
Philadelphia is one of many cities struggling with an increase in gun violence: 238 people had been murdered in the city through Sunday, compared with 215 at the same time last year.
