The New York Times - Thursday, December 1, 1994
Stuart Elliott

WORLD AIDS DAY may be a "Day Without Art," as museums and galleries sponsor events meant to increase public awareness of the disease, but it is certainly a day with ads. And more advertising intended to spur the fight against AIDS is on tap for today, the seventh observance of World AIDS Day.

The American Foundation for AIDS Research, known as Amfar, will introduce the largest campaign since its founding in 1985, the first by its new pro bono agency, Angotti, Thomas, Hedge in New York. And the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the AIDS service organization, is teaming up with the Body Shop for a promotion carrying the theme "On Dec. 1, even a token contribution can help people with AIDS." They will collect subway tokens to help those with AIDS and H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, travel to care operations around New York City.

Amfar plans to have a bus parked outside the United Nations building in midtown Manhattan this afternoon, displaying a poster created by Angotti, Thomas. The event is timed to coincide with the United Nations' observations of World AIDS Day, which is sponsored by the World Health Organization.

The poster display will serve as a preview of the Amfar campaign, which will run from January through March in 17 metropolitan markets nationwide on about $3 million of transit advertising space being donated by Transportation Displays Inc. in New York. Among the markets, in addition to New Jersey and New York, are Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Francisco.

The efforts are emblematic of the growing interest in cause-related marketing, also known as point-of-purchase politics, by which companies seek to curry favor with consumers by taking stands on significant and sometimes controversial social and political issues.

"There's a much more supportive environment" for messages about the AIDS crisis, said Sally Morrison, vice president for new program development and external affairs at Amfar in New York. Still, she added, "it's extremely challenging" because there "has to be a balance."

A campaign needs to "communicate in an arresting way," Ms. Morrison explained, to combat what she called "AIDS burnout," the sense of "hopelessness" among those involved in battling the disease during the last decade who are daunted by its pervasiveness and virulence -- and the lack of tangible, measurable progress towards a cure.

At the same time, Ms. Morrison said, the campaign had to "not alienate the people we'd like to come forward to help" among the wider community.

After Angotti, Thomas was selected in late September from seven or eight creatively focused agencies that Amfar executives interviewed, it conducted focus group interviews to guide the campaign's direction.

"We came up with a message that would work for both groups," said Ken Sandbank, a copywriter at Angotti, Thomas, "positioning Amfar as an atypical organization to fight an atypical virus."

For instance, one poster in the campaign carries this assertive headline: "Red ribbons are a nice gesture. It's red tape we won't stand for." A second poster, striking an equally feisty note, declares: "The virus doesn't fight fair. Neither do we. (Clean needles, anyone?)" That is a reference to Amfar's support of needle-exchange programs among intravenous drug users to slow the spread of H.I.V.

Ms. Morrison and Steven H. Goldstein, account director at Angotti, Thomas, said they hoped to produce additional posters as well as print advertisements and broadcast commercials. Entertainment Weekly magazine will donate $500,000 of ad space during 1995, she said; Mr. Goldstein said the agency was canvassing "magazines that we do business with" for paying accounts to encourage additional donations.

There will also be advertising for the token-collection drive; posters and radio commercials have been produced in-house by the Gay Men's Health Crisis.

"Every day is World AIDS Day for us," said Allen Payne, the communications coordinator at the organization for the event, "but it is an important day and the transportation needs are real."

Volunteers will collect tokens today outside five busy Manhattan subway stations, including those at Herald Square and Wall Street. Canisters for tokens will be placed in the Body Shop's 15 retail outlets in Manhattan and will remain available through the holiday shopping season.

"This is a creative solution to the problem that a lot of people are not going to their treatments because they don't have tokens," said Allison Bazin, New York regional communications manager at the Body Shop. "Now they don't have that excuse any more."

941201
NYT941201

Copyright © 1994 - The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved. All New York Times articles contained on the AEGiS web site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of The New York Times Company. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. However, you may download articles (one machine readable copy and one print copy per page) for your personal, noncommercial use only.

AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bridgestone/Firestone Charitable Trust, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1994. 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, 1994. 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. .