It can happen to you, says O&M’s AIDS awareness commercial

It is the rabbit syndrome. When danger looms large, we shut our eyes, hoping it can never reach us. With the problem of AIDS threatening to turn into an epidemic in our country, what do we do? We carry on, snug in our illusion that it happens only to other people, in the newspapers and in films. We think, it can never touch us ‘decent’ people, and brush aside the topic whenever it is broached.

The recent communication for Heroes Project seizes this problem by the horns. For those who came in late, Heroes Project was set up in June last year with the support of the Richard Gere Foundation Trust that contributed $ 2.4 million, Parameshwar Godrej, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation. STAR Care committed $ 14 million worth of prime air time over three years.

The commercial features three people from different socio-economic backgrounds. A hip young man in a bar, a taxi driver and a man in a middle-class home. All three take turns in arguing that AIDS happens not to people of their social-standing, but to others. It is ironic how each points fingers to the other in this game of passing-the-buck.

The upwardly mobile youngster makes it seem like a problem exclusive to “anpad (illiterate), lower class people”. “Aap galat aadmi se baat kar rahen hain,” he says. (You are talking to the wrong guy.)

The middle-class man reasons that “conservative, middle-class” people like him can never be affected by it. AIDS happens only to “upper class” people, or the “lower class” he emphasises.

The cab driver almost blushes in embarrassment when questioned about it. “Yeh AIDS-waids ke chakkar hume kyun fasaa rahe ho,” he says. (Why drag us into all this?) He makes it clear that it is the “bade log” (rich people) who are afflicted by it.

The commercial ends with Amitabh Bachchan urging people not to believe in the myth that one can never be affected by it. “AIDS ki jaankari hi AIDS se bachav hai,” (Information about AIDS is the best prevention).

Created by O&M, the commercial broke on air recently with air time sponsored by STAR Care. “This commercial rides on the insight that most people believe AIDS cannot happen to me,” explains Kanika Singh, programme director, Heroes Project.

The campaign has been designed for the masses. Says Abhijit Awasthi, senior creative director, O&M, “We wanted to take this self denial head-on and chose the testimonial style to highlight the kind of logical reasoning about AIDS that goes around in respectable circles.”

Another set of two commercials that have broken on air recently speak to an entirely different audience. One of these shows a very 70-s Bollywood song and dance sequence, complete with a mini-sari clad heroine and a hero with long side-burns. Their romp in the garden ends with a classic ducking-behind-bush for the censored ‘kiss’. The camera zooms in on two flowers – the metaphor for some steamy scenes. But behind the bush, we see the couple actually playing dandiya with the flowers. The super says, No Condom, No Sex.

The other commercial shows a gen-now couple, getting ready for some erotic scenes under satin sheets. The lights go dim and the mercury rises, only to cut to the couple playing carom on the bed. The super says, No Condom, No Sex.

“This communication was designed entirely for the youth,” says Awasthi of O&M. “With them, you can’t be preachy or pedantic, but talk to them as a friend would,” he says. “While the message is serious, its treatment is fun and erotic.”

According to Kumar Subramaniam, vice president, O&M, “The messages had to deal with the problem that AIDS awareness has till now been very academic, and not in the real sense. The purpose of these communications was to heighten awareness in real terms and to tell the youth about using condoms every time they had sex,” he says. With youngsters, especially, the tone and treatment had to be very different, he adds.

The youth-centric communications will see media partners like MTV coming into the picture, says Singh of Heroes Project. While talks are also on with Sun TV and ZEE for media partnerships, another commercial that speaks to the family at large will be on air soon. “Since this is a much larger cause, we need to get as many partners as possible,” says Awasthi.

The creative team included Sachin Ambekar, Manoj Motiani, Kapil Mishra, Pradeep Yeragi and Abhijit Awasthi. The testimonial commercial has been shot by Abhinay Deo, while the youth commercials have been shot by Prashant Issar.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!