Bay Windows - October 23, 2003
Ethan Jacobs

HIV Stops with Me

The day after Nate, 24, one of the new spokesmen for the HIV Stops with Me campaign, was diagnosed with HIV, he skipped work and surfed the Internet for any information he could find about his diagnosis. He came upon a Web site called www.hivstopswithme.org, which featured biographies of HIV positive people from cities across the country, including Boston, talking about their experiences. Nate was shocked by what he saw.

"My entire perception of people with HIV was people with lipodystrophy or lipoatrophy where the face just kind of emaciates. That was the face of AIDS and HIV for me, that was it, and to go on that Web site you see people who look just like me. If you go to the San Francisco Web site there's this kid named Ren . He was the only one who's really my age, until now. So I read his bio, and this kid's doing everything he wants to do in life. He's an aspiring artist, he's still doing this. This isn't the end of the world. And that's what kind of hit for me," said Nate.

Through the site Nate found out about JRI Health and its POZ 20s social and support group for young HIV positive men in Boston. A week later he attended his first meeting, and he now works part time as a client advocate for JRI. Based on his own experience with the HIV Stops with Me site, when he learned that the campaign was searching for new local spokespeople, Nate decided to apply.

Boston's HIV Stops with Me campaign first began several years ago as a program of AIDS Action. When budget cuts forced AIDS Action to drop the program, former campaign spokesman Troix Bettencourt, who is also JRI's director of HIV support services, worked with JRI Vice President Lee Swislow to restart the program.

They recruited five local HIV positive men to tell their stories on the Web site. Visitors to the site can e-mail them questions about issues ranging from how to avoid infection to how to disclose one's status to a partner. The new site went live Oct. 20, and the spokesmen will appear on posters, palm cards, bus advertisements, and print ads in local papers, including Bay Windows.

At an Oct. 20 launch party at Club Caf , Swislow compared the spokesmen to gays and lesbians who came out during the early gay liberation movement.

"HIV Stops with me is exactly the same kind of campaign [as early gay liberation] where we have five spokesmodels who are willing to put themselves out to the entire world through the Internet as well as right here in their community as a way of saying, 'This is who I am,' and countering the stigma that unfortunately still exists and [that] people who are HIV positive still experience," said Swislow.

Howard, one of the new spokespeople for the campaign, said another important component is that it is interactive.

"I think [compared to] any kind of campaign that I've seen out there, this one was most personalized," said Howard. "They gave you many ways to connect, whatever your thing is. Their stories are real. There's a way for you to contact them about their bios and what they've been through and how they get from that point to today, and I found that extremely real."

Like Nate, Howard first learned about JRI's various programs through the original campaign, and he now works as JRI's support group coordinator. Howard was inspired to join the new campaign in large part to help educate fellow members of the Asian community in Boston about HIV prevention.

"A lot of the gay Asians in any type of situation, they don't really protect themselves as well as they should in casual sex sometimes, and I think that they need to be a little more aware," said Howard. "... Many Asian men, they're very ashamed of their sexuality and how they go about it. And maybe I can form a place for them to share and talk about it."

Some of the print ads have already started running, and Nate said that they've already begun to make an impression.

"...[This] woman came up [to me at a bar] and it was really intense because she grabbed a copy [of the ad] and was like, 'Here, can you sign this for me?'" said Nate. "And I started laughing. She goes, 'It's not funny ... My brother died of AIDS five years ago and his boyfriend still lives in Florida. It would mean so much if you signed this because seeing this would really help him out a lot.'"

Howard said that while he was nervous at first about being so visible in the campaign, now he feels more comfortable.

"I spent so much of my time keeping [my status a secret], hiding," said Howard. "So, in a way, yeah, I was nervous about it. Now it's like, let's get it out there. And let's see what a difference I can make."

Get It On! Play Sane!

While the JRI campaign uses the personal testimony of HIV positive people to spread the word about HIV prevention, Manhunt's new ad campaign hopes to reach people through humor.

Dave Greenup, who serves as general manager for Dial Information Services, the company that runs the Manhunt telephone chat service, felt inspired to design a new ad campaign for Boston after a recent vacation in Paris. Throughout the city Greenup saw posters featuring drawings of Parisian landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and the red windmills of the Moulin Rouge, adorned in condoms.

When Greenup returned to Boston he read a New York Times article about the campaign and learned that the condom-wearing landmarks had become quite popular in Paris. Greenup wondered if a similar campaign could use humor to raise awareness about safer sex in Massachusetts.

Working with a designer from the Scorpio Creative advertising firm, Greenup brainstormed ideas for Manhunt's new safer sex campaign.

"[We] threw around ideas, and we thought, 'How about putting a condom on the Cape?'" said Greenup.

The new ad campaign, which began running in local papers (including Bay Windows) in early October, features just that: a drawing of Massachusetts with a condom adorning Cape Cod. The ad's message, "Get It On! Play Sane!" uses the double entendre both to encourage safer sex and to promote Manhunt's sex-positive message.

Greenup said that while many gay men in Boston understand the basics of condom use, many have grown careless about making sure that they practice safer sex.

"... [We] felt that we had to remind the boys in the community to play safe again," said Greenup. "... We figure we need to remind people that you can play, but play safe."

In addition to the print ads, the condom-on-the-Cape graphic will appear on Manhunt.net. Callers to Manhunt's phone lines will be reminded to play safe. And if Greenup gets his way, soon Boston commuters will see the Cape Condom on billboards.

Chris Nutile, director of marketing for Manhunt.net, said that this campaign is only one of a number of efforts the site has made to keep its clients safe. The Web site recently partnered with the Department of Public Health, posting banners that linked to information about syphilis testing. Local organizations like AIDS Action and Fenway Community Health maintain profiles on the site that people can e-mail with safer sex questions.

"Those profiles keep themselves online ... so our members have to take the initiative to e-mail them," said Nutile. "It's not intrusive."

Nutile said that the key to promoting safer sex on Manhunt is making sure that the message avoids alienating people who visit the site or call the phone line looking for sexual partners. He said the condom on the Cape ads do this by combining the safer sex message with humor.

The response to Manhunt's safer sex messages has been "overwhelmingly positive" according to Nutile, and he compared the campaigns to the safer sex outreach programs that used to take place in bathhouses.

"We had over 4000 guys on the site last night," said Nutile. "... It's an incredible way for us to get these guys to consider safer sex."

Greenup said if his lawyers give the OK, Manhunt might run ads with some of the other ideas that he created for the campaign.

"We had condoms on the Prudential, the Hancock, the Customs House," said Greenup. "... We had condoms on everything."

031023
BY031002

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2003. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .