Condom company slammed for joking about AIDS in new ad campaign
By Ben Kelly
A bizarre advertising campaign run by Hero Condoms in Australia has been heavily criticised for making stigmatising and factually incorrect jokes about HIV and AIDS.
The tongue-in-cheek campaign appears to show STIs masquerading as attractive men and women on a Tinder-like dating app. In their biographies, they describe the kind of symptoms that their sexual partners can expect to experience.
For example, one male profile named ‘Jonorrhoea’ writes, “Swipe right if you’re looking for something serious. Infertile kind of serious.”
However, many people have been offended by two profiles which poke fun at HIV and AIDS.
One female profile named ‘Aidy’ makes a Knock Knock joke about the virus, before saying, “If you’re looking for just a one nighter. I take things slow: One white blood cell at a time, for the rest of your life.”
Meanwhile, male profile ‘Aydes’ writes, “Only swipe right if you like: Incurable virus’s that destroys immune systems,” before listing a number of other symptoms.
Nic Holas, the co-founder of The Institute of Many which represents people with HIV, strongly criticised the campaign.
“The campaign associates human characteristics with STIs, reinforcing the idea that certain types of people are to blame for STIs. Avoiding a ‘certain type of person’ isn’t how you avoid contracting STIs,” he told BuzzFeed.
“It contributes to stigma surrounding STIs, which is precisely what leads to people not getting tested and treated for them.”
Hero have responded to criticism saying, “The goal of this campaign was to get people talking and thinking about safe sex and we appreciate you joining the discussion. We appreciate your views on the ways in which we could make this more inclusive and effective.”
“It was and is not our intention to isolate or stigmatise anyone who has an STI and would welcome the opportunity to sit down with you to discus future communication.”
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